Lawyer: Iranian Trial Of Detained Americans Not Held

The Iranian lawyer for three Americans charged with espionage said judicial authorities have not resumed their trial as planned.

Masoud Shafiei said that two jailed Americans — Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal — were not brought into court Wednesday and that Iranian officials gave no immediate explanation.

Bauer and Fattal have been held since July 2009 after being taken into custody on the Iran-Iraq border. A third American, Sarah Shourd, was released in September on $500,000 bail and is being charged in absentia.

Shafiei said the three deny the allegations and say any crossing into Iran was inadvertent. Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.