Iran Accuses U.S. Hikers of Espionage

Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, all graduates of the UC Berkeley, were arrested on July 31st. However, the U.S. government and their families say the three were on a hiking vacation and crossed accidentally.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for the three to be released. However, the espionage charge may be an attempt to use the three as bargaining chips in the ongoing deadlock in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, between Western nations and Iran.

Tehran's prosecutor general, Abbas Ja'afari Dolatabadi, announced the charges in an interview with IRNA, the official Iranian news agency. He said, "The charge against the three U.S. citizens who were arrested on the Iran-Iraq border is espionage. Investigation of their cases is in progress. There will be more to say soon."

In Berlin, Clinton said, "We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever. And we would renew our request on behalf of these three young people and their families that the Iranian government exercise compassion and release them, so they can return home."

Since the United States has no diplomatic relations with Iran, it has had to rely on Switzerland for direct appeals about the hikers' release. A Swiss diplomat has met twice with the Americans in their Iranian prison, with the most recent visit October 29th.

This isn't the first controversial Iranian arrest of a U.S. citizen this year. In January, Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi was arrested in Tehran, was convicted of espionage, then released on appeal in May.