WASHINGTON -- One of the three young Americans charged by Tehran with spying says she can't make any decision for the time being about returning to Iran for trial, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.
Sarah Shourd was detained last year along with Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal near Iran's border with Iraq.
Shourd was released on bail in September and flew back to the United States.
The trio's trial was due to begin November 6, but on November 1 it was postponed because Shourd had not been summoned.
Asked if she was going to go back to Iran, Shourd told RFE/RL on November 1 that her mother is in the hospital and has "very serious complications" with recent surgery.
"So I can't make any decisions about trial while my mother is sick in the hospital, I have to be here taking care of her," Shourd explained.
Shourd repeated that the three had been on a hiking vacation in northern Iraq and had no idea they were near the border with Iran.
She said the three only crossed into Iran after a soldier -- who they initially assumed was Iraqi -- beckoned them.
She added that she wanted to clear up some "misinformation" in the media that said Iranian authorities came into Iraq and forced the trio over the border.
"There was no violence, no shots were fired," Shroud said. "I have no reason to believe it was an orchestrated kidnapping or anything of that sort."
Meanwhile, two Nobel Peace laureates -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Northern Irish peace activist Mairead Maguire -- have appealed for Iran to release Bauer and Fattal, saying the two were "victims of political tensions between Iran and the United States."
Sarah Shourd was detained last year along with Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal near Iran's border with Iraq.
Shourd was released on bail in September and flew back to the United States.
The trio's trial was due to begin November 6, but on November 1 it was postponed because Shourd had not been summoned.
Asked if she was going to go back to Iran, Shourd told RFE/RL on November 1 that her mother is in the hospital and has "very serious complications" with recent surgery.
"So I can't make any decisions about trial while my mother is sick in the hospital, I have to be here taking care of her," Shourd explained.
Shourd repeated that the three had been on a hiking vacation in northern Iraq and had no idea they were near the border with Iran.
She said the three only crossed into Iran after a soldier -- who they initially assumed was Iraqi -- beckoned them.
She added that she wanted to clear up some "misinformation" in the media that said Iranian authorities came into Iraq and forced the trio over the border.
"There was no violence, no shots were fired," Shroud said. "I have no reason to believe it was an orchestrated kidnapping or anything of that sort."
Meanwhile, two Nobel Peace laureates -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Northern Irish peace activist Mairead Maguire -- have appealed for Iran to release Bauer and Fattal, saying the two were "victims of political tensions between Iran and the United States."
