Salehi 'Hopes' Iran Court will Free Americans

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi hopes that the trial of two U.S. citizens detained in the Islamic republic on espionage charges will lead to their freedom, local media reported Saturday.

"We hope that the trial of these two (U.S.) nationals will proceed in a manner that will result in their freedom," Salehi was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.

The trial of the Americans, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, who were detained two years ago on the border with Iran, ended on Sunday.

The session was held behind closed doors without the presence of a third accused, Sarah Shourd, who is in the United States after being granted bail.

Salehi said the judiciary would announce the verdict in due course for the case which he added "is being pursued with justice and fairness.”

His comments came nearly a week after Iran's general prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni said at the end of the U.S. hikers’ last hearing that a verdict will be issued "soon."

Shourd, who got engaged to Bauer in prison in Tehran, was tried in absentia after returning to the United States following her release on humanitarian and medical grounds in September 2010, after bail of about $500,000 was paid.

Bauer and Fattal, both 29, were arrested along with Shourd, 32, on the unmarked border between Iran and Iraq on July 31, 2009 with Tehran accusing them of "spying and illegally entering the country."

They have pleaded not guilty to spying charges, saying they were hiking in Iraq's northern province of Kurdistan when they innocently walked into Iran across an unmarked border.

Washington has vehemently denied Tehran's charge that the three are spies and has pressed for their release.