The lawyer for Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer — UC Berkeley alums who were sentenced on Aug. 20 by Iranian court to eight years in prison — filed an appeal against the decision on Sunday, according to major media outlets.
The hikers had been given 20 days to file an appeal against the Iranian court’s ruling, which includes a three-year sentence for illegal entry into Iran and a further five years for espionage.
Masoud Shafiei, the hikers’ lawyer, is quoted by the Associated Press as saying that a decision on the appeal could come immediately or in as long as two months from now.
Fattal and Bauer have been imprisoned in Iran since July 2009, when they were seized — along with Bauer’s fiancee and fellow Berkeley alum Sarah Shourd, who was later released because of health concerns — by Iranian officials for allegedly crossing the border while hiking along Iraq’s Eastern border. Despite condemnation from prominent international figures, Iran’s Revolutionary Court convicted the two on counts of illegal entry into the country and espionage.
Jordan Bach-Lombardo is the university news editor.
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“illegal entry into the country and espionage”
If they were arrested at the border, they could hardly have had time to commit acts of espionage. Were they arrested at the border?
It appears as though they were waved over the border by an Iranian soldier, who then proceeded to bust them for illegally crossing the border.