Trial has begun in Tehran for two of three American hikers accused of espionage after blundering across the border into Iran. The third hiker, Sarah Shourd, was freed on bail last September and is back in the United States. –JCL

Al-Jazeera English:

The trial on Sunday of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, along with that of Sarah Shourd, who was released on $500,000 bail in September, comes 18 months after they were arrested on July 31 2009 near Iran’s border with Iraq.

The three, in their late twenties and early thirties, say they were hiking in the mountains of northern Iraq and crossed the unmarked border by mistake.

Iran held them on suspicion of spying, a crime which can carry the death penalty.

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