Sunday 9/25/2011
The American hikers held by the Iranian government for the last two years have been released. The Americans were captured when they may have accidentally crossed the Iraq-Iran border. They were charged with espionage and were sentenced to 8 years each. There were three hikers who were captured were Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd. Shourd was freed in a diplomatic deal negotiated by Oman about a year ago and was out on a $500,000 bond. The two men remained in custody, although on May 20th, 2010 the mothers of the hikers were granted visas to visit them. The two men were released on September 25th, 2011 in a $1,000,000 deal negotiated by Oman. They finally were able to reunite with their families in Oman. Oh and Bauer proposed to Shourd while they were imprisoned.
I'm glad to see they were finally released although this has not helped Iran-USA relations, if anything it has strained them even more.
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/25/us-hikers-return-home_n_979928.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl9%7Csec1_lnk2%7C98853
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/21/world/la-fg-iran-hikers-20100521
