The Americans freed from the Iranian prison said they were held hostage for political reasons

The Americans, freed from Iranian prison, Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal returned home.

Upon arrival in New York, they told reporters that they were held hostage for political reasons, ITAR-TASS reports.

“From the very beginning, the only reason that we were kept hostage was that we are Americans,” said Shane Bauer. “Iran always linked our business with the political disputes that he had with the United States.”

Convicts in Iran on charges of espionage, they consider themselves innocent people who were unreasonably injured. In the Iranian prison, the Americans spent more than two years. Last Wednesday, September 21, they were released on bail of $ 1 million.

As Bauer noted, the irony is that they always opposed the US policy towards Iran, which, in their opinion, only helps to strengthen hostility between the two countries.

The 29-year-old Bauer and Fattal, as well as 32-year-old Sarah Shurd were detained on July 31, 2009 for illegal penetration into the territory of the Islamic Republic in a border with Iraqi area of ​​Mariva. They had entrance visas to Iraq and Syria, but there was no Iranian visa.

According to the American side, young people traveled around Iraq and ended up in Iran by mistake.

However, the Iranian intelligence agencies considered that the penetration of the Americans into the country at the height of the protest of the opposition and mass street riots that took place in 2009 in 2009 was not accidental.

Last year, Shurd was released on bail to freedom due to health problems that have arisen and immediately left for her homeland, in the USA, and Bauer and Fattel appeared before the Iranian court and were sentenced to eight years in prison for illegal penetration into Iri and espionage.