Iran Sentences US Hikers Shane Bauer & Josh Fattal to 8 Years as Spies

The Iranian kangaroo court has spoken …

The two American hikers, Shane Bauer & Josh Fattal, who were arrested on July 31, 2009 near Iran’s border with Iraq, along with a third American Sarah Shourd, by the Iranian regime  have been sentenced in Iran to 8 years as US spies. They were convicted for for espionage and illegal entry.

“In connection with illegal entry into Iranian territory each was given three years in jail and in connection with the charge of cooperating with American intelligence service, each was given five years in jail,” a state TV website said, quoting what it called an informed judiciary source.

They have 20 days to appeal, it said.

The affair has compounded tensions between Tehran and Washington, which have had no diplomatic relations since the storming of the U.S. embassy after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials.

Thankfully, Sarah Shourd was freed on $500,000 bail in September 2010,  returned home and never returned back to Iran. What will be the reaction of the Obama Administration to the sentencing? Sorry, Obama was to busy on vacation to respond to two Americans being unjustly imprisoned.

Obviously, this was a hard line message by Iran to test the Obama Administration … but all that came from the State Department was that they restated the U.S. appeals for their release, “It is time to reunite them with their families.” I guess its better than an Obama apology.

Oh the irony, a regime like Iran enforcing their borders, but Barack Obama thinks that its perfectly ok for illegals to come across the border as long as they commit no crimes. Maybe after his Martha’s Vineyard vacation, Obama can share his executive order providing backdoor amnesty to illegals.

UPDATE I: Iran turns US hikers into Hostages.

Is it 1979 all over again … a weak US Democrat President residing over a failed US economy and an Iranian regime politicizing the capture and detainment of Americans.

The politicized verdict once again underscores the Islamist regime’s twisted sense of “justice,” which is meted out against Iranians as well as foreigners to advance the interests of a ruthlessly brutal regime. The show trial of the hiker/hostages is one more slap in the face of the Obama Administration, whose eager rush to engage Tehran has produced no tangible results.