Tehran confirms 8-year jail term for US hikers

The two US citizens, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, have been sentenced for illegal entry into Iran and spying, according to local media.

"Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal have been each sentenced to eight years in jail by the branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court," ISNA news agency quoted Jafari Dolatabadi as telling a news conference Sunday.

He said the verdict can be appealed in 20 days.

Jafari Dolatabadi said charges of illegal entry and espionage against the American hikers had been "proven" in the court, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"Five years for spying for the American intelligence services and three years for illegal entry into Iranian soil," he was quoted by the Tehran-based Arabic Al-Alam television as saying in a breakdown of the sentences.

"The case of Sarah Shourd who has been freed on bail is still open," Jafari Dolatabadi added, referring to the other American who was arrested along with her fiance Bauer and Fattal on July 31, 2009.

She was freed on bail of around 500,000 dollars and returned to the United States in September on humanitarian and medical grounds.

The lawyer of the Americans said he will appeal.

"The verdict is as announced by the prosecution ... In this period (20 days), I will use all the legal means at my disposal to reclaim their rights, because I believe my clients are innocent," Masoud Shaffi told AFP.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed disappointment over the verdict.

"We are deeply disappointed that Iranian judicial authorities have sentenced Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal to eight years in prison," Clinton said.

"We continue to call and work for their immediate release -- It is time for them to return home and be reunited with their families."

Clinton added in her statement that: "I join President Obama and the people of the United States in expressing our unflagging support for Shane, Joshua, Sarah and their families during this difficult time."

Washington has vehemently denied Tehran\'s charge that the three were spies and on Saturday it said the two men have been already imprisoned for long.

"We have repeatedly called for the release of Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, who have now been held in Iran\'s Evin prison for two years," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

The verdict is expected to further raise tension between Washington and Tehran at a time when the animosity between the two has deepened under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Bauer and Fattal, both 29, were arrested along with Shourd, 32, on the unmarked border between Iran and Iraq in 2009.

The trio claim they were hiking in Iraq\'s northern province of Kurdistan when they innocently strayed into the Islamic republic.

They pleaded not guilty to spying charges, according to their lawyer.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi had said on August 6 he hoped the trial of Bauer and Fattal would lead to their "freedom."

Shourd, a teacher, writer and women\'s rights activist, met Bauer, a fluent Arabic-speaking freelance journalist, while helping to organise demonstrations in the US against the war in Iraq. The two moved to Damascus together in 2008.

Fattal, who grew up in Pennsylvania, is an environmentalist and teacher. He travelled in 2009 to Damascus, where he met Shourd and Bauer.

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