The lawyer for two Americans convicted of spying in Iran said on Sunday he would appeal their eight-year sentence, which shocked their families who had hoped to see them freed after more than two years already spent in Tehran's most notorious jail.
Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were arrested on the border with Iraq in 2009 where they said they were hiking. They were found guilty of illegal entry and espionage, a verdict likely to further strain Iran's already poor relations with Washington.
"We have 20 days to appeal and I will try my best to use all legal means to annul the sentence," lawyer Masoud Shafiee told Reuters. "It was my belief, and still is, that they are innocent and I have not seen any evidence that shows they are guilty."
Bauer, 28, and Fattal, 29, share a cell in Tehran's Evin prison. They had pleaded not guilty to the charges at their closed-door trial which ended on July 31.
"Josh and Shane were informed about the verdict yesterday," Shafiee said, adding that he had not seen them in person. The two years they had already served would count towards their 8-year sentences, he said.
They were arrested on July 31, 2009 near Iran's border with Iraq, along with Bauer's girlfriend, Sarah Shourd, 32, who was released on $500,000 bail in September and returned home to California where she has been campaigning for their freedom.
Confirming a leaked report of the sentence, Tehran Prosecutor-General Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told a news conference that no verdict had yet been passed on Shourd who did not return to Iran to stand trial.
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