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U.S. denies paying money for Iran’s release of detained hiker

15 September 2010 00:18 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The U.S. State Department on Tuesday denied that the U.S. had paid the half-million-dollar bail for the release of an American hiker detained by Iran, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

"The United States did not pay anything for her release. Someone provided sufficient assurances to the government of Iran that satisfied their stipulations for release," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.

But he declined to confirm if cash is paid for the release of Sarah Shourd, the detained American, only saying the release was achieved with combined effort by U.S., Swiss and Omani diplomats.

Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi on Tuesday ordered to release Sarah Shourd after the bail has been paid, Iranian state media said.

The three Americans -- Sarah Shourd, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer -- were arrested in Iran on July 31 last year for illegally entering the country from its western borders and were charged with espionage last November. The U.S. government considered the charges totally unfounded.

The other two Americans are still under custody in Iran. U.S. President Barack Obama said earlier that he remains hopeful that Iran will release the two.