Tehran: The Iranian Judiciary has summoned an American national charged with espionage in Iran but released later in a goodwill gesture to attend a trial scheduled for February.
Iranian Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said on Monday that Sarah Shourd, and two other US nationals charged with espionage, needs to attend the trial due on February 6, an Iranian news agency reported.
Shourd was released last September on humanitarian grounds and returned to the US. She was arrested along with two other Americans, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, in July 2009 for illegally crossing the border from Iraq. Bauer and Fattal remain in Iranian custody pending trial.
The three Americans were charged with espionage after the Tehran prosecutor found “compelling evidence” that the trio had been cooperating with US intelligence agencies. “The hearing will be held on the previously declared date unless there is a special circumstance — such as the defendants’ lawyer requesting the trial to be postponed — occurs,” Mohseni-Ejei noted. He added that the judge could make a decision on whether to hold an open trial.
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