Iran to free US prisoner

Iran said Sunday that it will free on bail one of three Americans accused of espionage, a day after her planned release was unexpectedly halted by the judiciary.

The Tehran prosecutor told state television Sunday that Sarah Shourd would be freed on a $500,000 bail and permitted to leave the country.

Shourd was detained near Iran's border with Iraq at the end of July 2009 along with two male companions, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. Their families say the three were on a mountain hike in northern Iraq at the time.

Officials said last week that Shourd would be freed Saturday, but Iran's judiciary suspended her release at the last minute, saying the legal process had not been completed. The delay could indicate a rift among Iran's hardline rulers.

"The American spy can be released as soon as her $500,000 bail is deposited. ... She is not barred from leaving Iran but has to appear in the court at trial time," Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said.

The detention decree of the other two had been extended, he said.

A lawyer representing the three, Masoud Shafie, said the Americans had attended court Sunday and presented their final defenses. The prosecutor can now present his indictment.

Yin Gang, a researcher on Iranian issues, told the Global Times that the decision to free the American woman is a move to ease tensions between Tehran and Washington that has heightened over Iran's nuclear program.

"But it is unlikely to bring any major breakthrough in relations between Iran and the US," Yin said. "Iran's nuclear issue is far too complicated."

The Iranian prosecutor denied any connection between the release of Shourd and the return of an Iranian nuclear scientist, Shahram Amiri, to Tehran in July, according to a report by the Washington Post. Iran accused the CIA of abducting Amiri, while Washington said he defected to the US of his own will.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once suggested that Iran could trade the three Americans for Iranians held by the US.

State media reported Friday that Shourd would be released as a result of intervention by Ahmadinejad, to show the "special view of Iran on the dignity of women."

Some hardline MPs criticized Shourd's planned release, accusing the government of "meddling in the judiciary's affairs," the Tehran-e Emrouz daily reported Sunday.

Agencies - Global Times