Iran asked to drop hiker bail requirement

TEHRAN, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- The Swiss Embassy, representing U.S. interests in Tehran, asked Iran Monday to drop its bail demand for the release of a U.S. hiker, NPR reported.

Sarah Shourd and two male companions have been held in Iran since July 2009 after they were arrested on the Iran-Iraq border where they were hiking.

Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said Sunday Shourd would be released after posting $500,000 bail but must return to Iran for trial.

NPR reported Shourd's family has said "they cannot pay the required bail" and that their daughter needs medical attention.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Swiss diplomats "are seeking to help us understand what exactly is happening in Iran at this point."

Crowley said the U.S. government "does not fund ... prisoner bail."

Shourd, 32, and Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, both 27, are accused of illegally crossing into Iran and espionage. Their families said the three were hiking in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, and if they crossed the border it was accidental.

Iranian officials had said Thursday Shourd would be released Saturday, the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. But state media reported Friday her release was hung up because of unfinished legal issues. On Sunday, Dolatabadi announced the country's "readiness for the conditional release" of Shourd.