Tehran, Sep 21 (IANS) Two US hikers jailed for allegedly spying in Iran were Wednesday released on bail, the state media reported.


Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer were sentenced to eight years in prison last month on charges of espionage.

The Tehran Province Appeals Court agreed to change their prison terms to five-billion-rial (over $400,000) bail each, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The development comes after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview last week with the NBC News that Fattal and Bauer would be released in a couple of days.

One more US national, Sarah Shourd, who was held along with them in July 2009, was freed in September last year on health grounds. She had since returned to the US.

The three were arrested for illegally entering the country and then charged with carrying out espionage activities.