Lawyer: 2 Americans held in Iran could be released (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran – The lawyer for two Americans jailed in Iran on charges of espionage says his clients could be released after a court hearing slated for Sunday.

Masoud Shafiei said Saturday the fact that the session in the trial of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal would coincide with the second anniversary of their arrest may indicate that they will be freed.

There also is a tradition in the Muslim world of pardoning prisoners for the holy month of Ramadan, which starts early next week.

Bauer and Fattal have been jailed since July 2009. Bauer's fiance, Sarah Shourd, was arrested with them but released last year on $500,000 bail.

The Americans deny the charges and say they were only hiking in a scenic area of northern Iraq near the Iranian border.

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Casey Anthony released from Florida jail (Reuters)

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) – Casey Anthony was released from a Florida jail on Sunday to resume the life on the outside interrupted three years ago when she was charged with the murder of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.

Casey Anthony exited the jail escorted by guards wearing bullet-proof vests and carrying rifles and stepped into a black SUV, one of two waiting vehicles, a few minutes after midnight on Saturday.

Anthony was acquitted by a jury on July 5 of culpability in Caylee's death. Since then, her future has been the subject of much speculation, but with no publicly known facts beyond her jail departure date.

Pool reporters inside the jail saw Anthony and her attorney Jose Baez whiz by them in the lobby and exit through the front door in a matter of about 12 seconds.

"She was just tunnel vision on that door," said Tony Zumbado, an NBC News cameraman. Anthony's only words were "thank you" to a jail sergeant, he said.

"When she walked out, she had a smirk on her face," said Zumbado, who interpreted the expression as relief.

"She looked to me like she might be nervous or holding back tears," said Matt Sedensky, an Associated Press reporter in the pool.

He quoted jail officials as saying Anthony -- wearing the tight hair bun seen during her trial, a bright pink shirt, jeans and bright blue sneakers -- left with the $537.68 remaining in her inmate account.

Two backup plans to take her out of other jail doors were scrapped when officers determined she could safely depart through the front, Sedensky said.

Some TV reports showed footage of a plane at an Orlando executive airport that they said Anthony had boarded and which then left for an unknown destination, but the reports could not be immediately confirmed.

CROWD WAITING

A crowd of several hundred had been waiting since midafternoon for the release, and many of its members rushed into the street trying to follow Anthony as she was driven away, briefly blocking the eastbound lanes of a six lane road.

Lori Richards, 54, of Daytona Beach and three friends had set up a tent at 3 p.m where they huddled through a brief lightning storm.

"We're here to support Caylee and we want them (the public) to boycott anything Casey or any of the Anthonys do," Richards said.

Casey Anthony's parents and brother had testified at the widely telecast trial.

Many in the crowd at the jail came with signs for and against Casey, and some periodically chanted Caylee's name.

A large police presence included the sheriff's mobile command center, five horse-mounted officers and at least 20 uniformed officers on foot, many wearing bullet-proof vests. Three news helicopters hovered overhead.

Anthony's safety is no small matter. Her trial revealed gruesome details of Caylee's death and the disposal of the toddler's remains in trash bags in swampy woods. There was also plenty of evidence of Casey Anthony relishing her life, partying and shopping, after Caylee died.

Even Casey Anthony's lawyer Baez acknowledged her outward lack of emotion over the death was "bizarre."

Her acquittal was met with shock and derision by much of the public, egged on by outraged television commentary.

Charles Greene, Anthony's defense lawyer in a related civil defamation lawsuit, told a judge on Friday that he had received seven threats against her that day.

Much speculation has focused on whether Anthony will try to live quietly out of the public eye, or seek out attention, and just what sort of person she is.

She stopped accepting jail visits from her parents long ago. An attempt by her mother Cindy Anthony to visit her both right before the trial began and just after the verdict were rejected.

Lawyer Greene told a judge that psychologists who examined Anthony at the jail this week found her mentally unstable after the ordeal of the trial, according to opposing lawyer Keith Mitnik.

Mitnik is suing Anthony on behalf of Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, whose life the suit says was ruined after Anthony initially lied to detectives that a woman by that name had kidnapped Caylee.

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jerry Norton)

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Casey Anthony will be released from jail July 17 (Reuters)

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) – A Florida judge on Thursday sentenced Casey Anthony to four years in jail for lying to police after her daughter disappeared, but she will be released from custody on July 17 after getting credit for time served and good behavior.

Anthony, 25, will be let out of jail four days later than was previously announced after her release date was recalculated, court spokeswoman Karen Levey said.

Court officials had earlier said Anthony would be released from jail on July 13, having received credit for the 1,043 days she spent behind bars since her arrest.

Anthony was acquitted on Tuesday of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008 but on Thursday received the toughest possible punishment for providing false information to law enforcement during the investigation.

Each of the four misdemeanor counts Casey Anthony was convicted of carried a maximum of one year in jail. Judge Belvin Perry ordered the one-year terms to run consecutively, and also imposed a $1,000 fine for each count.

Perry said as a result of Casey Anthony's lies, law enforcement spent "a great deal of time, energy and manpower looking for young Caylee Marie Anthony."

Casey Anthony did not speak during the sentencing hearing. She wore her long hair loose rather than pulled tightly back as she had during the trial and smiled while she chatted with defense attorneys before the proceedings.

But her face tightened as the judge discussed her lies and handed down the punishment.

The hearing drew Anthony's fans, critics and a large police presence to the Orlando courthouse where her closely watched trial played out over more than six weeks this summer.

"Boycott any books, movies by Casey," one protester's sign read.

"Casey will you marry me," read a sign held by 20-year-old pizzeria worker Tim Allen.

Reaction to the sentence was mixed. Some people came hoping to witness Anthony walk out of the courthouse a free woman.

"I would like to put my eyes on her," said Darwin Outsey, a 33-year-old Orlando car detailer who agreed with the murder acquittal but thought Anthony was at least guilty of being an accessory to the killing.

Others criticized the sentence as too lenient.

"She doesn't deserve to walk free among civilians who care for their children," said Dobia Wright, 30, an unemployed tree trimmer from Orlando who brought along his 3-year-old son.

Where Anthony will go after her release is a mystery. Her parents, George and Cindy Anthony, left the courtroom after the verdict without speaking to their daughter but were back in the regular seats to hear the sentence on Thursday.

Afterward, their lawyer shook hands with defense attorney Jose Baez but would not comment to Reuters about the family's plans.

Casey Anthony's punishment is a far cry from the death penalty prosecutors had planned to seek if jurors found her guilty of first-degree murder.

The prosecution said Casey Anthony smothered Caylee with duct tape on June 16, 2008, drove around for several days with Caylee's body in her car trunk and then dumped the remains in woods near the Anthony family home.

The defense argued that Caylee died in an accidental drowning in the family's backyard pool.

Millions of Americans followed the trial and many were stunned, even angered, by the verdict reached by jurors on Tuesday.

The jury also found Casey Anthony not guilty of aggravated child abuse or aggravated manslaughter of a child. Jurors who have spoken out since said they felt there wasn't enough evidence for a murder conviction, but their decision left them in tears and feeling sick.

(Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Greg McCune)

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Strauss-Kahn released from house arrest (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was released from house arrest on Friday after prosecutors said the hotel maid who accuses him of attempted rape lied to a grand jury and made other false statements.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, still faces charges that he sexually assaulted the woman in New York but questions about her credibility appear to be shifting the case in his favor in a twist that could upend French politics.

The former steward of the global economy smiled as he left court with his wife, Anne Sinclair, at his side.

Until his May 14 arrest, Strauss-Kahn was a strong potential challenger to Conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 election. Jubilant supporters in the French Socialist party hoped he might rejoin the presidential race but some analysts saw his chances as too tarnished.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers want the charges dropped. The judge said prosecutors will reexamine the evidence after they revealed the maid lied to a grand jury about her actions after the alleged attack and on tax and immigration documents.

"I understand that the circumstances of this case have changed substantially and I agree the risk that he would not be here has receded quite a bit," Justice Michael Obus told the court as he released Strauss-Kahn.

"There will be no rush to judgment. The people will continue to investigate and reexamine the matter as appropriate."

Strauss-Kahn, whose house arrest had included electronic monitoring and an armed guard, agreed to return to court as needed, including for a July 18 hearing.

His bail payment of $1 million and bond of $5 million were returned to him but his passport was not, meaning he can travel only within the United States.

With his resignation on May 19, Strauss-Kahn severed all his ties to the International Monetary Fund. Christine Lagarde, who has just stepped down as French finance minister, takes over the top IMF job on Tuesday.

QUESTIONS EMERGE

The case has hinged on the accuser, a 32-year-old Guinean immigrant who cleaned the $3,000-a-night suite at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan where Strauss-Kahn was staying.

Prosecutors found issues with her asylum application, tax return and statements to the grand jury investigating the assault case, court documents showed.

Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon told the court "the facts of the sexual encounter was and is corroborated" but some details appear to have changed.

The woman initially said Strauss-Kahn assaulted her and she then cowered in the hallway outside his room until he left and she felt safe to seek help. Now, prosecutors say, she admits she cleaned a nearby room and then returned to Strauss-Kahn's suite to start cleaning before reporting the incident.

After the dramatic revelations, Strauss-Kahn's lawyer Benjamin Brafman said he wants the charges dropped.

"We are absolutely convinced that while today is a first giant step in the right direction, the next step will lead to a complete dismissal of the charges," Brafman said.

The woman's brother told Reuters in Guinea that she was the victim of a smear campaign.

Her lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, said after the hearing his client's story had never wavered and that Strauss-Kahn had bruised her badly and tore a ligament in her shoulder.

"The claim that this was consensual is a lie," Thompson told reporters. "She made some mistakes but that doesn't mean she is not a rape victim."

The New York Times quoted law enforcement officials as saying prosecutors found possible links between the accuser and people involved in drug dealing and money laundering.

They also discovered the woman made a phone call to a jailed man within a day of her encounter with Strauss-Kahn in which she discussed the possible benefits of pursuing the charges against him, the paper said.

The conversation was recorded. The man was among a number of people who had made multiple cash deposits, totaling around $100,000, into the woman's bank account over the last two years, The New York Times said.

Some commentators suggested that Strauss-Kahn, known as the "great seducer" of French politics, could have been set up.

His arrest opened the field for several other Socialist candidates for next April's presidential election, including party leader Martine Aubry, who trails colleague Francois Hollande in opinion polls.

Sarkozy, who nominated Strauss-Kahn for the IMF job, has not commented on the affair since his arrest. The case has prompted debate in France on gender equality and a media tradition of respecting the privacy of politicians' sex lives.

Nina Mitz, a former senior adviser to Strauss-Kahn at the French Ministry of Finance, said: "Today's stunning news can only make us regret that so much talent may have been wasted at a time when we all very much needed it."

(Additional reporting by Grant McCool, Christine Kearney, Paula Rogo and Bernd Debussmann Jr in New York, Mark Hosenball in Washington, Marie Maitre, Catherine Bremer and Geert De Clercq in Paris and Saliou Samb in Guinea; Writing by Mark Egan; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

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