U.S. Hikers' Families Hope Case Nears End

ST. PAUL, Minn. - 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, pleaded not guilty in absentia.

The attorney, Masoud Shafiei, said the judge decided there would be at least one more session in Tehran Revolutionary Court. "I now hope they fix the next session for the near future," he told the Associated Press.

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.

Shafiei described the jailed Americans as appearing in good health and said they sat next to him during the trial session.

The Tehran Revolutionary Court deals with state security cases, including some of the high-profile opposition figures arrested in the violent aftermath of Iran's disputed election in 2009.

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The three Americans were hiking in northern Iraq near the Iranian border in July 2009 when Iranian forces took them into custody. Shourd was released on bail last September but Bauer and Fattal have remained in detention since being taken into custody.

The third American, Bauer's fiancee, Sarah Shourd, was released in September on $500,000 bail arranged through the Gulf nation of Oman, which maintains close ties to the West and Iran.

She was ordered back to Tehran for the trial by Iranian officials, and the bail will likely be forfeited because of her absence.