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Last updated: 12 october, 2010 - 14:01 GMT

US hiker freed from Iranian prison

Sarah Shourd (centre) in September 2010, after her release. Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were captured with Sarah but are still in prison in Iran. Cindy Hickey (left), Shane Bauer's mother; and Laura Fattal (right), Josh Fattal's mother. Photo: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

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Thirty-two year old American Sarah Shourd was freed from prison in Iran in September after spending 14 months behind bars.

She had been kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, had only two phone calls and one meeting with her family, and met her lawyer for the first time only when she was finally released.

Sarah had also become very concerned about her health after discovering a lump in her breast.

She was allowed to fly home to the United States last month after an international campaign for her release, and after the posting of bail worth half a million dollars by an anonymous donor.

But although Sarah is happy to be re-united with her family and friends, she still cannot rest because her fiance Shane Bauer and friend Josh Fattal are still being held in prison in Iran.

When the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Matthew Bannister spoke to Sarah from San Francisco, she described how her ordeal began whilst she was working as an English teacher in Syria.

First broadcast on 12 October, 2010

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