Trial next month for 3 Iran hikers

TEHRAN, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Sarah Shourd, one of three U.S. hikers charged with espionage in Iran, will forfeit $500,000 bail if she does not return for trial, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

A lawyer representing Shourd and her friends Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer told the Iranian Students News Agency the trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 6. Massoud Shafiei said the three are charged with entering the country illegally and spying for Israel.

The three were arrested in July 2009 after they allegedly crossed the border while hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan. Some of their advocates say Iranian border guards seized them illegally while they were in Iraq.

Shourd was released and allowed to leave the country Sept. 14.

"Based on the rules, if criminals who go abroad for a temporary release refuse to appear in the court, their bail will be seized," Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, said.