Americans to stand trial after 18 months in Iran jail

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Two Americans held in an Iranian jail for the last 18 months will finally stand trial on Sunday for espionage, a charge their lawyer is confident will be shown to have no substance.

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were arrested on July 31, 2009 near Iran's border with Iraq, along with a third American, Sarah Shourd, who was released on $500,000 bail in September and returned home.

The three, in their late 20s and early 30s, say they were hiking in the mountains of northern Iraq and crossed the unmarked border by mistake.

Iran, which considers the United States its greatest enemy, held them on suspicion of spying, a crime which can carry the death penalty.

President Barack Obama met Shourd on her return to the United States, an event he called "bittersweet" due to the continued detention of the other two, one of whom is Shourd's fiancé.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested last February that the Americans might be released as part of a prisoner swap for Iranians he says were abducted or tricked into going to the United States and jailed without due legal process.

Masoud Shafii, the lawyer, said he did not expect the trial to be delayed again, as it was in November when the court said it could not proceed without Shourd being present.

"Sarah was not invited last time but this time she was invited, the Foreign Ministry summoned her. Whether she comes or not is not relevant from a legal point of view," he said in an interview at his Tehran office.

NO ACCESS

While not able to confirm that Shourd would definitely not turn up, Shafii said he would present the court with a written statement he had he received from her via the Swiss Embassy which represents U.S. interests in Iran.

Washington has had no diplomatic ties since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent storming of the U.S. embassy by revolutionary students.

Shafii said his repeated requests to visit his clients, held in Tehran's notorious Evin jail, had been rejected and he had not seen them since Shourd's release in September.

He said he had arranged with the judge to be able to meet them before the trial starts at 10 a.m. (0630 GMT) on Sunday.

"I have studied all the details and I am sure that my clients are not guilty and the espionage charge does not have any substance," Shafii told Reuters.

"Even if the illegal entry happened, due to the fact that the border is not signed and they could not have recognized it, even if it did happen, they are not at fault."

Shafii said illegal entry into Iran could carry a penalty of between 18 months and three years and was upbeat about the chances for a no guilty verdict or a sentence which would see them released.

"I'm pretty sure they won't be convicted because it doesn't have any legal justification. Even if they are convicted, (the sentence) shouldn't be for more than what they have already spent in jail."

Shafii said he would appeal any guilty verdict, but did not expect the case to drag on.

"I imagine that this case will come to an end. It is possible that there will be one or two breaks. However, this does not mean that there will be a re-trial, that it will be postponed for another two or three months."

(Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Maria Golovnina)