TEHRAN, Iran � A senior Iranian prosecutor said Sunday that authorities will release an American woman on $500,000 bail because of health problems, more than a year after she was jailed with two other Americans and accused of spying.
The news came during a weekend of start-and-stop announcements about the release of Sarah Shourd, who was detained with two friends, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, along the Iran-Iraq border on July 31, 2009. Shourd's mother has said she has been denied treatment for serious health problems, including a breast lump and precancerous cervical cells.
There were no details on when she would be released.
"Based on reports and the approval of the relevant judge about the sickness of Ms. Shourd, her detention was converted to $500,000, and if the bail is deposited, she can be released," the official IRNA news agency quoted prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi as saying.
He said the decision has been relayed to her lawyer.
Shourd, who has been held in solitary confinement, was to have been released Saturday as an act of clemency to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan after the intervention of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But the judiciary abruptly halted that planned release, indicating such a decision would have to first go through the courts.
Iran has accused the three Americans of illegally crossing the border and spying in a case that has deepened tensions with Washington � which has led the push for tougher sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
The prosecutor said the two other Americans would remain in custody.
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