Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, hikers jailed as spies in Iran, must pay $1 million for freedom: report

Two Americans jailed as spies in Iran will be freed as soon as they pony up $1 million.

Iran's bombastic President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told NBC News in an interview that aired Tuesday on \"Today\" the pair \"will be freed in a couple of days.\"

The pair were being released early from their eight-year sentence for humanitarian reasons, he said. However, that release comes with a catch.

Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer must each pay $500,000 for bail before they can be freed, said their defense attoey in Iran, Masoud Shafiei, according to The Associated Press.

The attoey is contacting the families of the hikers to get the money as quickly as possible, CNN reported.

The two men were captured along the Iran-Iraq border in 2009, along with a woman, Sarah Shourd. The three were accused of being U.S. spies and illegally entering the country.

Shourd, 32, was released in September 2010. Her family had fought for her release fearing she had cancer. Iranian authorities eventually agreed to let her go, but also forced her family to cough up $500,000.

Fattal and Bauer, both 29, were eventually put on trial and convicted last month.

All three denied the espionage claims, and insisted they were only hiking when they accidentally crossed the border.

\"Shane and Josh are innocent and have never posed any threat to the Islamic Republic of Iran, its govement or its people,\" their families said in a statement in August.