Iran: US hikers release again delayed

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Iran: US hikers release again delayed

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The lawyer of two US hikers said that judge was not at court to sign hikers' bail papers.

20 September,2011 01:44 pm

The lawyers of US hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, convicted of spying in Iran, left court without the signature required to secure their bail. The lawyer said on Tuesday the judge in the case was not at court to sign the release paperwork.Shafie said on Sunday the judge would not be available to sign the bail documents before Tuesday because he was on vacation.Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a U.S. television interviewer last week that Shane Bauer, 28, and Josh Fattal, 29, would be freed in the coming days in a humanitarian gesture ahead of his trip to the United Nations in New York.The Gulf State of Oman has sent a plane to Iran to pick up the Americans, a foreign ministry official said on Friday (September 16).The men were arrested on the border with Iraq in 2009 where they said they were hiking. They were found guilty of illegal entry and espionage and were sentenced last month to eight years in prison.The deal to release them still has to be signed off by Irans judiciary, which said on Wednesday (September 14) the release was not imminent, reflecting a rift between the countrys ruling hardline elites.Shafie last week said the men would be released on 500,000 U.S. dollar bail each. A third American, Sarah Shourd, was arrested with the men but was allowed home on 500,000 U.S. dollar bail in September 2010.