TEHRAN — A senior Iranian lawmaker said Thursday that the United States should not expect the release anytime soon of three American hikers detained by his country since July.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the parliament’s powerful committee on national security and foreign policy, said the United States had kept five Iranian diplomats in custody for a long time after detaining them in northern Iraq in January 2007, so it “should not be in a hurry for the release of the three” hikers.
The Iranians, detained in the Turkish city of Irbil, were held by U.S. forces in Iraq for more than two years before they were released in July. They were held on suspicion of aiding Shiite militants in Iraq.
Iran accuses the three American hikers of spying, saying they would soon be tried.
Also Thursday, the official IRNA news agency reported that five protesters who were detained in late December will soon stand trial.
State television also said the elite Revolutionary Guard has arrested several website editors on charges of fomenting unrest and insulting state officials. The report, quoting a Guard statement, did not identify the sites or give the number of editors detained.
Websites have been heavily used by Iranian opposition to organize, report arrests and publicize comments by its leaders.
The IRNA report said the five detained protesters will face a revolutionary court, which ordinarily deals with security charges.
The report did not elaborate when the trial will begin and what charges the protesters face.
Iranian judicial officials last week said some detainees could face the death penalty.
At least eight people died in clashes between security forces and opposition supporters late last month. It was the worst bloodshed since the height of the unrest immediately after the contested June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The opposition says more than 80 protesters have been killed in the post-election crackdown, but the government puts the number of confirmed dead at less than 40.
