Iran will free on Saturday a female US hiker detained in the Islamic republic for more than a year for alleged spying and illegally entering the country, the Mehr news agency and an official said. Sarah Shourd, one of the three US hikers currently held in Iran, will be "released in the presence of a vice president in the Hafezia hall of Sadabad palace," Mehr reported without quoting a source.
The new venue was also confirmed to AFP by an official at the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance who said Saturday's release ceremony will begin at 9:00 am (0430 GMT) at the former imperial palace, located in northern Tehran. Earlier on Friday, Ehsan Qazizadeh Hashemi, local media chief at the ministry, had told state news agency IRNA that the detainee would be freed at Tehran's Esteghlal Hotel.
Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast had also told English-language Press TV on Friday that Shourd would be "released soon to rejoin her family," adding that the decision to free her was an act of "Islamic compassion." A release on Saturday would coincide with the end of Ramadan and the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
It also comes with Tehran under mounting international pressure over the case of Iranian Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two sentenced to death by stoning for adultery. Shourd was arrested along with fellow Americans Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal on July 31, 2009 after straying across the border from neighbouring Iraq. Her mother Nora told AFP last month that Sarah was being held in solitary confinement despite suffering from a pre-cancerous cervical condition, a lump in her breast and depression.
The mothers of the trio, who are all around 30 years old and who Iran accuses of spying and entering the country illegally, have voiced hope that news of one of them being released signalled an end to their battle for freedom. "We have seen the news reports and are urgently seeking further information," mothers Cindy Hickey, Nora Shourd and Laura Fattal said in a joint statement.
The White House said it was checking the veracity of reports on the planned release with the Swiss government, which has represented US interests in Iran since the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution. "These are three innocent children, innocent kids who committed no crime, all three of whom should be released and released immediately by the Iranian government," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Thursday. The three insist they entered Iran by mistake after getting lost during a trek in Iraqi Kurdistan.
US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Nobel Prize winners and international rights groups have repeatedly urged Iran to release them. Last month, Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi said an investigation on the American detainees was nearing completion. In May, Iran had allowed the mothers to visit, and they later reported that Shourd and Bauer had become engaged behind bars.
Comments
Comments are closed.