Sarah Shourd, one of three American hikers detained for more than a year in Iran, has been released from jail and is expected to leave the country later today, according to Iranian state media.
Press TV, the country’s official English-language news service, today announced that Shourd had been handed over to the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which represents U.S. interests in the country. The news channel said the 32-year-old was freed on a bail of $500,000, and — according to an unnamed Swiss diplomat — was expected to fly home in a few hours.
Tehran’s chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dowlatabadi said later that the bail had been paid to an Iranian bank in Muscat, Oman, according to The Associated Press. But it’s not yet clear who made that payment, as Shourd’s family previously said they were struggling to raise the money.
lawyer also confirmed her release during a telephone call with Reuters. “I am inside Evin prison, doing her paperwork. She has been released and is heading toward the Swiss Embassy,” Masoud Shafii told the news service, speaking from the notorious Tehran lockup where Shourd and the two other Americans — Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, both 28 — have been held for 14 months. The attorney was later quoted by state-run news agency IRNA saying Shourd intended to travel to Oman where her mother was waiting for her, but conflicting reports said she would fly to the Qatari capital of Doha.
The three graduates of the University of California at Berkeley were arrested on July 31, 2009, after they allegedly crossed the border from neighboring Iraq. Their families say that if they stepped across the poorly marked, mountainous frontier at all, they did so unwittingly, but Iranian officials claim that the trio entered the country with “suspicious aims.”
Jafari-Dolatabadi said Sunday that an indictment against the three Americans had been issued and that their cases would soon be submitted to a court. He added that the three would face trial for espionage, which in Iran is punishable by death.
However, while Jafari-Dolatabadi demanded that Bauer and Fattal stay in prison and face those allegations, he ruled that Shourd could be released on bail due to her failing health. Shourd’s mother, Nora, told Agence France-Presse last month that her daughter was being held in solitary confinement and denied medical treatment despite suffering from a precancerous cervical condition, a lump in her breast and depression.
Under Iranian law, Shourd may now leave Iran, but she is obliged to return for future court proceedings. However, it is expected she will forfeit the $500,000 surety and choose to avoid the trial.