Families of US hikers hope case nearing resolution

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The families of two Americans charged with spying in Iran say they’re glad Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal proclaimed their innocence in a courtroom and that the case is nearing an end.

Bauer and Fattal pleaded not guilty Sunday in a five-hour court hearing in Tehran. A third American, Sarah Shourd, was released last September and pleaded not guilty in absentia.

The attorney, Masoud Shafiei, says the judge decided there would be at least one more session in Tehran Revolutionary Court. The families of Bauer and Fattal say Shafiei told them he was not allowed to meet with the two men before or after the hearing.

The three Americans were hiking in northern Iraq near the Iranian border in July 2009 when Iranian forces took them into custody.