In her 45-minute interview with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, NBC’s Ann Curry extracted some dramatic news about former UC Berkeley students Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, imprisoned on espionage charges, if it proves true. After asking Ahmadinejad how the country could have sentenced the men to 8 years for straying into Iran while hiking in 2009, here’s the dialogue as aired on NBC:
Ahmadinejad: They illegally crossed our borders, and they were arrested by the border guards, but we tried last year to free one of the three persons, and we are also trying to make arrangements for their freedom, for the freedom of the other two. I think these two persons will be freed in a couple of days.
Curry: In a couple of days?
Ahmadinejad: Yes. In a couple of days, they will be free.
