U.s. Hikers | featured news

The lawyer for three Americans facing espionage charges in Iran said Sunday that a new trial date of Feb. 6 has been set but that the judge has refused to allow him to meet with his clients to prepare a defense. The trial was to have started on Nov. 6, but authorities said they delayed it because one of the Americans, who was freed on bail, had not been summoned to return to the country to appear in court.

The start of the trial of three Americans charged with spying on Iran has been postponed because one of them has not been summoned to return to the country to appear in court, Iran's judiciary spokesman said Monday.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley urged Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEE'-neh-zhahd) to send American hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer home. In a tweet sent Thursday on Ahmadinejad's birthday, Crowley said, "What a gift that would be."

A classified U.S. military document appears to lend credence to claims that Iran crossed the Iraqi border to arrest three American hikers.

Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, accused of illegally entering Iran, are set to go on trial Nov.

An American woman released from Iran after more than 13 months in custody has begun her trip back to the United States after thanking Oman for helping to mediate with Tehran.

An American woman released from Iran after more than 13 months in custody began her journey back to the United States on Saturday after asking her supporters to "extend your prayers" to her fiance and another American man who remain in Tehran accused of spying.

Iran has canceled the planned release of a detained American woman because the legal process has not been completed, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi was quoted as saying on Friday.

Iran says it will release one of the three American hikers detained for more than a year on Saturday, a day after the conclusion of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, according to an official at the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance.

The mothers of three Americans detained in Iran for a year have put their own careers on hold and turned to what's become a full-time job for them: attempting to secure their children's release.