The mothers of three US hikers detained in Iran for the past 10 months on spying charges flew in to Tehran on Wednesday to visit their children for the first time, an AFP photographer said.
The three women, who have been granted one-week visas, are expected to be reunited with their children as early as Thursday at Tehran's notorious Evin prison, one of their lawyers, Masoud Shafii, told AFP.
Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, were detained on July 31 after straying across Iran's border while on a hiking trip in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region.
Washington insists they are innocent and should be released, stressing that the three hikers had strayed in error across an unmarked border in a remote mountainous region.
But Iran's Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi earlier on Wednesday renewed accusations of espionage against the three young Americans.
"Iran acted in accordance with Islamic teachings and in a humanitarian way," ISNA news agency Heydar Moslehi as saying, referring to Iran's decision to grant visas.
"Despite their being spies and entering Iran illegally, they were dealt with according to religious teachings and in a humanitarian way," Moslehi said.
The mothers said they did not know if they would meet high-ranking Iranian officials. The Swiss ambassador to Tehran, whose country brokered the visit in the absence of US-Iran ties, was to meet them at Tehran airport.
The three mothers said on leaving New York to fly to Tehran via Dubai that their only concern was the wellbeing and health of the detained trio.
In their baggage they had packed letters from friends, photographs and empty notebooks for the detainees to record their experiences.
According to the families, Bauer and Fattal are being held in the same cell in Evin prison. Shourd is alone in her cell but is able to meet with Bauer and Fattal every day.
They have spoken to relatives only once, for a few minutes by telephone on March 9. Swiss diplomats last saw them on April 22 when they reported Shourd had serious health issues and Bauer was suffering from a stomach ailment.
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
