Iran Press TV: Freed US Nationals Leave Iran

The two US nationals convicted of illegal entry and espionage in Iran have departed from Mehrabad Airport, after their release from jail! According to IRNA, the Iranian news organization, Shane Michael Bauer and Joshua Felix Fattal headed for the airport on Wednesday. Earlier, Branch 36 of Teheran's Appeals Court agreed to commute the detention sentences of the two to release on a bail of $1,000,000. Together with Sarah Shourd, another US national, Bauer, Fattal were arrested on Iranian soil in July 2009, after illegally crossing the border from the mountains of the Iraqi Kurdistan region in the north of Iraq. The three were charged with espionage after Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi found "compelling evidence" that they had actually been cooperating with US intelligence agencies. Iran released Shourd on bail of USD 500,000 in September 2010, 14 months after her arrest. The decision was made based on humanitarian grounds. Bauer and Fattal were each sentenced to eight years in prison.