Iran to free female US hiker

Iran said that tomorrow it will free a female US hiker detained in the Islamic republic for more than a year for alleged spying and illegally entering the country, an official said.

10 September 2010, 12:00am

1 min read

Sarah Shourd, one of the three US hikers currently held in Iran, will be “released in the presence of a vice president in the Hafezia hall of Sadabad palace,” Mehr news agency reported.

An official at the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance also confirmed the release ceremony which will begin at 9am.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has also said that Shourd will be “release soon to rejoin her family,” adding that the decision to free her was an act of “Islamic compassion.”

The release incidentally happens to be tomorrow, which marks the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Shourd was arrested back in July of 2009 after straying across the border from neighbouring Iraq whilst hiking.