Innocent+Hikers+Sent+To+Prison

The two U.S. hikers detained for two grueling years in Iran have been sentenced to eight years in prison, Iran's state-run TV reported Saturday.

Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer each received five years for -- specifically "cooperating with the Americans" -- and three years for illegal entry.Their families have made urgent appeals to free the men and created a website to muster support for their release. They could not be reached for comment on the reported sentences. Fattal and Bauer and another person, Sarah Shourd, were seized on July 31, 2009 when they were hiking in the Iraqi Kurdish region and __allegedly__ crossed into Iran. Shourd, Bauer's fiancee, was released last year, but the two men remained imprisoned in Iran. Shourd's case remains open. "They have been denied adequate access to their lawyer and have had very limited access to consular assistance," the human rights watchdog said last month. "Iranian authorities have ignored repeated appeals from the international community and the men's families to release them and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has hinted that the hikers were being held as a bargaining chip to be used in Iran's dealings with the United States."Iranian police said the Americans entered Iran. The Tehran Prosecutor's office has "compelling evidence" that the three were cooperating with U.S. agencies, Shourd has said the hikers did not know they had crossed the border while hiking. Fattal and Bauer pleaded not guilty to the charges. The three are graduates of the University of California at Berkeley.