Iran denies plans to release US hikers: TV

TEHRAN - Iran's Judiciary refuted on Wednesday the recent media reports on the imminent release of two American hikers that were convicted of illegal entry into Iran and of espionage charges, the local satellite Press TV reported.
On Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview with US NBC news that the two US hikers, Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer, will be released soon.
Following the president's announcements, a lawyer of the two detained Americans told media that each of his clients would be released on a bail of $500,000.
The release of the two American nationals on bail was their lawyers' proposal and "their lawyers' request to release them on bail is under study," the local Mehr news agency quoted a statement published on Wednesday by Iran's judiciary as saying.
The statement also said that the only authorized source in this regard is the judiciary's reports and "only the reports published by the judiciary could be trusted," said Mehr.
On Wednesday, a senior Iranian lawmaker said "the fact that the Iranian president independently and without the information of judiciary promises the release of the two (US) spies ... is an interference" in judiciary's affairs, according to Mehr.
Parviz Sorouri, the chief of the Domestic Security Committee of Iranian Parliament, said that "on the basis of (Iranian) constitution, the administration (of President Ahmadinejad) has no right to decide on the (American nationals) convicted of espionage, " said the report.
Iran said in August that each of the detained US hikers was sentenced to eight years in prison on the charges of illegal entry into the country's territory and espionage.
Iran's judiciary said then that the two Americans have 20 days to appeal, but the case of their fellow Sarah Shourd, who was released last September on bail and returned home, is still open.
The three US nationals were arrested in Iran on July 31, 2009 for illegally entering Iran's western border and were later charged with espionage. The US government considered the charges totally unfounded.
The female hiker Sarah Shourd, once jailed in Iran with the other two Americans, was released by Tehran's prosecutor in September 2010 on a bail of $500,000 due to her health condition.