Iran has set Feb. 6 as a new trial date for three US hikers charged with espionage, their lawyer said yesterday, prolonging the uncertainty of the two still in jail more than 15 months after being held on the Iraq border.
“I have received an official notification to appear in court on the 17 Bahman [Feb. 6] to represent my three clients, Sarah [Shourd], Josh [Fattal] and Shane [Bauer],” lawyer Masoud Shafii said.
He added that he was unaware if a special summons had been sent to Shourd, the lone woman among the three, who was released on bail and flew out of Iran on Sep. 14 in a deal brokered by the Gulf sultanate of Oman.
Shafii, who criticized the new delay in a case that has increased tension between the US and Iran, said the charges against his clients remained “illegal entry and espionage.”
Shourd, 32, her fiance, Bauer, 28, and Fattal, 28, all say they had innocently strayed across the border with neighboring Iraq when they were detained on July 31 last year.
The new trial date falls in early February, when Iran celebrates the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the fall of the US-backed shah’s regime — and when anti-US rhetoric reaches a climax.
The trial had initially been set for Nov. 6, but five days before the hearing, Iranian Prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie announced a postponement, saying that “the [US] national who was released must be summoned and the three be put on trial.”
DISAPPOINTMENT
Shafii expressed disappointment at the delay.
“I am not very happy [about the new court date] since it is very late,” he said.
“They should not postpone the court hearing since if they get the minimum sentence, which is one year in jail, they have already been in prison for around 15 months,” he said.
Shafii also said that he had asked the presiding judge, Abolqasem Salavati, to grant him permission to meet Fattal and Bauer in jail.
“I have not met the two since Sarah left Iran [in mid-September], but yesterday I asked judge Salavati to arrange a meeting with the two,” he said.
Salavati has overseen a string of trials involving people charged with anti-Iran or anti-revolutionary activities, particularly cases connected with huge street protests that followed Iran’s controversial presidential election last year.
He also presided over the trial of French academic Clotilde Reiss, who was arrested during the election unrest and later freed after paying a fine of US$285,000.
Shourd was freed despite criticism within the Iranian judiciary of interference in its work by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government, with some lawmakers directly attacking the president for pushing for her release.
The Swiss embassy, too, worked intensely in securing Shourd’s release. The mission manages US interests in Iran, with Washington and Tehran having no diplomatic relations since the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. US officials, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have said there is no justification for prosecuting the three Americans.
‘NO BASIS’
“We do not believe that there is any basis whatsoever for them to be put on trial and we regret that they and their families are being subjected to a criminal system that we do not think in any way reflects their actions,” Clinton said last month.
“So it’s our continuing request to the Iranian government that, just as they released the young woman, that they release these two young men,” Clinton said, adding that “it’s unfortunate” the pair have been held for more than a year.
Iran is also detaining two German journalists accused of spying after they were arrested while interviewing the son of a woman condemned to death by stoning.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in