Three US citizens arrested in Iran have been charged with illegal entry, according to State media.
Shane Bauer, a freelance journalist and photographer, Joshua Fattal and a woman media reports have identified as Sarah Shourd were hiking on July 31st along the mountainous border area between Iraq's northern Kurdish region and Iran. They wandered across the frontier, which is not clearly marked in that area, and were detained.
"While BBC said they were mountain hikers, some Web sites say they were journalists," said the newscaster on Khabar TV, Iran's main state news channel. "Since occupation of Iraq by the US-led forces, American journalists in Iraq have traveled to neighboring countries illegally."
The hard-line Fars news agency, considered close to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard," quoted the deputy governor of Iranian Kurdistan province near the Iraqi border as saying the three illegally entered Iran and were arrested.
"The three, who are not identified yet, were detained at the Malakh-Khor border point near the town of Marivan," about 370 miles (630 kilometers) west of the capital Tehran, Fars quoted Iraj Hassanzadeh as saying. "Two of the three are men. They were not interrogated," he said, adding that anyone who crossed the border illegally would be arrested.
He said the Americans had Iraqi and Syria visas.
Friends and family say Mr Bauer, his girlfriend Ms Shourd, and Mr Fattal, were adventurous travelers who accidentally stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time.
Mr Bauer is a freelance journalist and photographer based in the Middle East who has reported from Iraq, Syria, Sudan's Darfur region and Yemen, according to his Web site. He may have been in the region to cover the July 25th regional elections in Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish area.
Family members identified Mr Fattal as another one of the detained. His father Jacob told the Associated Press on Monday that he did not have any updates from the State Department about his son, who graduated from the same university as Mr Bauer.
US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton appealed yesterday to Iran for information on the three Americans to help determine their whereabouts. Swiss diplomats have been trying to obtain details from Iran on behalf of the Americans. Switzerland represents US interests in Iran because the two countries do not have diplomatic relations.
Reuters