WASHINGTON – Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd, two of the three Americans held in Iran on suspicion of spying, have got engaged in Tehran’s Evin jail and will marry once they are freed, their mothers said yesterday.
Mr Bauer, Ms Shourd and Josh Fattal have been jailed since their arrest last July along Iran’s border with Iraq. Their families say the three were hiking in Iraq and strayed over the border accidentally. Iran accuses them of being spies.
Mr Bauer (27) proposed to Ms Shourd (31) using a ring he wove with threads from his shirt, the mothers said. Mr Fattal (27) will serve as best man. The mothers travelled to Iran last week to visit their offspring for the first time since their arrest.
“Shane told me that he proposed to Sarah in the yard of Evin prison on January 6th, the very same day that we applied for our visas to go visit them,” Cindy Hickey, Mr Bauer’s mother, said.
“We just hope and pray that Iran will do the right thing and release them so they can get on with their lives.”
Iran’s intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi, said on Sunday he had no doubt the three Americans were spies and called on the US to propose a prisoner swap to secure their release, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Their imprisonment has further complicated relations between the US and Iran over the Islamic republic’s nuclear ambitions. US officials have called the three “innocent tourists” and demanded their release but have said they are not considering a prisoner swap.
The mothers told ABC's Good Morning Americaprogramme yesterday it was an enormous relief to see their children but the three had not been told anything about the status of charges against them.
The women used last week’s visit to plead with the Iranian government to release their children, but they told ABC they only met low-ranking handlers.
The prisoners appeared healthy, the mothers said. Mr Bauer and Mr Fattal share a cell and Ms Shourd is able to see them twice a day for 30 minutes. – (Reuters)