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© Beck Diefenbach / Reuters / Reuters
Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal (R) speak about their experiences during an Occupy the Prisons protest at San Quentin Prison, California, February 20.
SAN FRANCISCO - Two of the three American hikers jailed in Iran after allegedly straying over the Iraq-Iran border in 2009 were to be married on Saturday in a private ceremony in California, according to a statement posted on their Facebook page.
The wedding of Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd completes an engagement that began when Bauer tied a ring of thread around her finger while they were in prison in 2010.
"Now that this day has come, all I can do is close my eyes and fill with gratitude, for our freedom, for the love of so many generous people around the world, and for the very soil under my feet," Shourd said in the statement posted on the Free the Hikers Facebook page.
The third hiker, Josh Fattal, was to be the best man, the statement said.
Read the story at NBC Bay Area
The statement did not say exactly where in California the wedding was to take place, only that it was a setting "chosen for its pastoral beauty."
"Becoming engaged to Sarah while we were in captivity allowed me to dream of a future that was not only secure, but also beautiful," Bauer said in the statement.
Bauer, Shourd and Fattal were arrested on July 2009 by Iranian border guards, who allege that the three crossed over into Iran from the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
Shourd was released 14 months later on humanitarian grounds but Bauer and Fattal were convicted of illegal entry and espionage.
The men spent the first three months of their detention in solitary confinement before they were put in an 8 foot by 13 foot cell together. They spent their time reading and testing each other on various topics and were allowed a short time in an outside room to exercise daily.
During 781 days in jail, they had 15 minutes of phone calls with their families and one short visit from their mothers, Fattal said. They staged repeated hunger strikes over demands they be given letters sent by their families, he said.
Fattal and Bauer were freed last September after Oman paid bail of $1 million. Shourd was released on $500,000 bail a year earlier.
Since her release, Shourd has written about the psychological effects of solitary confinement, and argued against its use in the United States.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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...now if only they move to China so they can see how good they've got it, and can only have one child!
May I suggest honeymoon in Syria for these dikheads.....
I have repeatedly posted stuff online that told them to, "Go back to Syria and stay there!"
Leaving Syria to explore other Middle Eastern countries was their big mistake! They were so happy in Syria! And there would soon be lots of action fodder in Syria for journalists!
Are Americans still allowed to legally travel to Syria? Go, dear hearts! Godspeed! And now one man and woman are legally married and will adhere to the cultural mores there!
We should have left these המוסד agents in prison...
Good for them BUT for all the people who think going to any of those wacky countires for anything should think twice. Not nice places with too many not nice people, not to mention dangerous.
I only hope that IF there is a God of some sort, some where, that God will not allow these idiots to multiply. IF there is a sex life, (and truly it's none of my business, and honestly I do not want to know either way) that sex life should be for recreational purposes only. The thought of these morons actually reproducing is scary stuff indeed....
Hey honey, it's a beautiful day, let's go hiking in Iran. Don't forget your gun and ammo. LMAO! Idiots!
As if wondering into some freaking mountains in the middle of nowhere was not weird enough, now the two boys are getting married...
What is the girl's role in all of this?
wait a minute,wait a minute,we haven't hiked the afgan mountains yet....brilliant
Put them in a cell with someone that makes them their b@tch and see how long it takes for them to wish they where in solitary confinement.
Ah Sarah, the very soil under your feet that you celebrate! Duh? I thought you disliked your birth country???? I don't like you!
These morons deserve each other but I have done nothing to deserve having to hear about these idiots again. I hope they learned their lesson not to go where we know we are not welcome. Idiots.
stupid hippies
i hear they are hony mooning in north korea.