Iran cancels planned release of female US hiker

Tehran: Iran has cancelled the planned release today of female US hiker Sarah Shourd due to unresolved legal issues, Tehran's public prosecutor was quoted as saying by ILNA news agency.

"Because the judicial process has not been fulfilled in the mentioned American defendant's case, (her) release has been ruled out," said the prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi.

Commenting on reports about Shourd's expected release today, he said, "The judiciary does not validate the published news and naturally any decision about the defendants will depend on carrying out the judicial process." (Read: Iran to free female US hiker as act of 'Islamic compassion')

Several Iranian officials have been talking of the release of Shourd, one of the three US hikers currently held in Iran for more than a year, with some clearly indicating it to take place today.

Shourd, 31, was arrested along with fellow Americans Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal on July 31, 2009 after straying across the border from neighbouring Iraq. The three have been accused of spying and entering Iran illegally.

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Media reports of her expected release began circulating when a text message was sent late on Thursday by Iran's ministry of culture and Islamic guidance to news networks inviting them to report on the event.

Without naming her, the text message said an "American detainee" was to be released at Tehran's Hotel Esteghlal at 9:00 am (0430 GMT) today.

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Yesterday, Ehsan Qazizadeh Hashemi, local media chief at the culture ministry, had told state news agency IRNA that the detainee would be freed at Tehran's Esteghlal Hotel.

Later yesterday, an official from the same ministry confirmed her Saturday release, but said the event would take place in the Hafezia hall of north Tehran's Sadabad palace in presence of a vice president.

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But foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, although confirming the planned release of Shourd to English-language Press TV yesterday, did not specify the date and timing as to when it would actually take place.

He said Shourd would be "released soon to rejoin with her family", adding that "discussions are still ongoing regarding the details and the date of her release".

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Mehmanparast said her release was an act of "Islamic compassion" and the decision to free her was taken after discussions that involved even President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Her release today would have coincided with the end of Ramadan and the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

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Shourd's mother Nora told AFP last month that she was being held in solitary confinement despite suffering from a pre-cancerous cervical condition, a lump in her breast and depression.