Iran said today it will free on bail one of three Americans accused of espionage and held for more than a year, a day after her planned release was unexpectedly halted by the judiciary.
The Tehran prosecutor told state television that Sarah Shourd would be freed on $500,000 bail and permitted to leave the country.
Ms Shourd was detained near Iran's border with Iraq at the end of July 2009 along with two male companions, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. Their families say the three were on a mountain hike in northern Iraq at the time.
Officials said last week Ms Shourd would be freed yesterday, but Iran's judiciary suspended her release at the last minute, saying the legal process had not been completed. The delay could indicate a rift among Iran's hardline rulers.
"The American spy can be released as soon as her $500,000 bail is deposited ... She is not barred from leaving Iran but has to appear in the court at trial time," Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said.
The detention decree of the other two had been extended, he added: "The other two American hikers will remain in jail."
A lawyer representing the three, Masoud Shafie, said the Americans had attended court earlier on Sunday and presented their final defences. The prosecutor could now present his indictment, which would precede a trial.
David Axelrod, US president Barack Obama's chief political adviser, said: "We're hopeful and we're encouraged by this news but there have been starts and stops in this before, and until that actually happens we're on a wait and see basis.
"They [all three detainees] should never have been in jail in the first place. They're being held under false pretences and they should be released, and we're working very hard to see that that happens," Mr Axelrod said on NBC's Meet the Press.
An Iranian analyst who asked not to be named said the delay in Ms Shourd's release "brought to surface the ongoing power struggle" between president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other hardliners.
State media reported on Friday that Ms Shourd would be released as a result of intervention by Mr Ahmadinejad, to show the "special view of Iran on the dignity of women".
Some hardline MPs criticised Ms Shourd's planned release, accusing the government of "meddling in the judiciary's affairs", the Tehran-e Emrouz daily reported today.
INSA, the student news agency, quoted the prosecutor Mr Dolatabadi as defending the right of the judiciary to make the decision without outside pressure: "It is within our jurisdiction whether to release an accused person."
The judiciary chief is a brother of parliament speaker Ali Larijani, one of Mr Ahmadinejad's political rivals, who lost to him in a 2005 presidential vote. Mr Larijani is a staunch critic of the president's economic and foreign policies.
Under Iran's Islamic law, espionage can be punishable by execution. Mr Dolatabadi said Ms Shourd's release on bail was a display of Islamic clemency, based on reports that Ms Shourd was ill and needed treatment.
Shourd said in May that she had been held in solitary confinement. Her family say Shourd has been denied treatment for health problems, including a breast lump and precancerous cervical cells.
Washington rejects the spying allegations and has demanded the detained Americans' immediate release. Their case has further complicated relations between Tehran and Washington already fraught over Iran's nuclear activities.
Reuters