Iran to free US hikers | Photo: Jagran.com

Two American hikers held in prison in Iran since 2009 on charges of spying and entering country illegally will be released "in a couple of days," according to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"I am helping to arrange for their release in a couple of days so they will be able to return home. This is, of course, going to be a unilateral humanitarian gesture," Ahmadinejad told The Washington Post.

US hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were sentenced to an eight-year imprisonment last month after they were convicted of espionage by an Iranian court. The two were arrested near the mountainous Iraq-Iran border in July 2009, along with a third American, Sarah Shour, who was granted bail on humanitarian and medical grounds and was released in September 2010.