Last updated: 30 november, 2010 - 14:26 GMT

US hiker imprisoned in Iran

US hikers Shane Bauer (left), Sarah Shourd (centre), and Josh Fattal (right) in Tehran in May 2010, waiting to meet their mothers for the first time since their arrest. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

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The American hikers being held by Iranian authorities on espionage charges were allowed to ring home and talk to their families last weekend.

Shane Bauer, his fiance Sarah Shourd, and their friend Josh Fattal were arrested in July 2009 while hiking along Iraq's mountainous border with Iran.

Iranian officials claimed that the three crossed into Iran to spy but have never offered any proof.

Sarah was freed on bail in September and is back in the USA, but the two men are still locked up in a cell just eight feet by ten feet in Tehran's infamous Evin Prison.

They were supposed to go on trial this month, but the proceedings have now been postponed until February next year.

Outlook's Lucy Ash spoke to Josh's older brother Alex in Philadelphia and asked him all about the recent surprise phone call he received from Evin Prison.

click Free the Hikers

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