American hikers detained in Iran two years ago will “soon” receive “final verdicts,” according to reports out of the country and region yesterday.
Elkins Park native Josh Fattal has been held in custody since July 2009 after being arrested while hiking alongside the Iran-Iraq border.
“Reviewing the case has ended and the final verdict will be issued soon,” Prosecutor General Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei told news agency ISNA, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The Tehran prosecution has evidence — according to CNN, which quoted Iran’s Press TV — that the two have been collaborating with U.S. intelligence agencies, but their families have denied that all along. The young men met in California during college and have never worked for the U.S. government.
“All indications are positive, and I am very hopeful for their release — unless something unexpected happens,” the hikers’ lawyer Massoud Shafiee told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
