Iran wants Sarah Shourd back. The American woman captured in Iran will have to come back to the very country that detained her to stand trial on February 6 alongside Shane Bauer, her fiancé, and Joshua Fattal, her companion, both of whom are still in prison overseas.
All three were arrested on July 31, 2009 while hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan, which is located east of Iran. Iranian officials claim that the three hikers walked over into Iran; the Americans, on the other hand, assert that they were abducted within Iraq.
According to The Nation, new evidence, including eyewitnesses and a military report issued by Wikileaks, corroborate the Americans’ story. On September 14, Shourd was released on bail from an Iranian prison and returned to America, where she currently is now. There has not been any word from Shourd or her family on whether or not she will return to Iran despite the fact that a “Revolutionary Court in Tehran has summoned Shourd to return and stand trial,” according to the Associated Press.
Nevertheless, the charges of illegal entry into Iraq and espionage still stand and a trial is to be had. The Associated Press reports that the American government continuously refutes the sketchy allegations against the hikers and constantly petitions for their release.