Iran to free American prisoner to mark end of Ramadan

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran said Thursday it will free Sarah Shourd, one of three Americans jailed for more than 13 months, as an act of clemency to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The imprisonment of the Americans has deepened tensions between the United States and Iran, a relationship already strained over Washington's suspicions that Tehran is trying to manufacture nuclear weapons, which Iran denies.

Bak Sahraei, the second counselor of Iran's UN mission, sent an e-mail confirming the release of Shourd, following a text message from the Culture Ministry telling reporters to come to a Tehran hotel Saturday morning to witness the release.

That is where the three were allowed the only meeting with their mothers since they were detained in July 2009.

Iran claims they illegally crossed the border from Iraq's northern Kurdish region and had threatened to put the three on trial for spying. Their families say they were hiking in the largely peaceful region of Iraq and that if they crossed the border, it was accidental.

"Offering congratulations on Eid al-Fitr," the ministry text message said. "The release of one of the detained Americans will be Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Estaghlal hotel."

The gesture could be a calculated move by Iran to soften international criticism of its judiciary. Iran has faced a growing storm of protest over a stoning sentence for a woman convicted of adultery that has been temporarily suspended.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has in the past proposed swapping the three for Iranians he says are jailed in the United States, raising fears that the Americans are being held as bargaining chips.

There was no word on the fate of the other two Americans, Shane Bauer, 28, to whom she got engaged while they were in prison, and Josh Fattal, 28.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has already pardoned a group of prisoners for Eid ul-Fitr.

Shourd, 31, had told her mother of serious medical problems. Nora Shourd said her daughter told her in a telephone call in August that prison officials denied her requests for medical treatment. She said her daughter's problems, include a breast lump and precancerous cervical cells.