Families of US hikers in Iran deny espionage charges

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The families of three US hikers detained in Iran flatly denied Tehran's new allegation on Monday that their relatives were spies.

Tehran's chief prosecutor Abbas Jaffari Doulatabadi told Iranian media that the three Americans -- Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27 -- "are facing charges of spying."

Relatives of the three in the United States issued a statement rejecting the charges.

"The allegation that our loved ones may have been engaged in espionage is untrue," the statement said.

"It is entirely at odds with the people Shane, Sarah and Josh are and with anything that Iran can have learned about them since they were detained on July 31."

The three have been held for more than 100 days "simply because they apparently strayed into Iran by accident while hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan."

The relatives again called on Iranian officials "to show compassion to our loved ones and release them without delay.

"This has already gone on for too long," the families stressed.

US officials have called for the three to be quickly released.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Berlin there was "no evidence" for Iran to charge the Americans, and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the three "are innocent young people" whose release "should be expedited."

Family and friends of the three have said they were hiking in a mountainous border region in northern Iraq near a famous waterfall when they unintentionally strayed into Iran.

A friend who was scheduled to go on the hike but cancelled because he fell ill appealed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week to free the three as soon as possible.

"Mr President, by continuing to deprive Shane, Sarah and Josh of their liberty, Iran is working against some of the very causes it supports," Shon Meckfessel wrote.