The Hill News

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad argued Sunday that it is appropriate to ask for the release of eight Iranians being held in the U.S. for crimes now that his government has released one of three American hikers detained last year.

"This was a huge humanitarian gesture," he said of the release of Sarah Shourd, who was arrested with two traveling companions on charges of espionage. 

Shourd, who became ill in prison, was set free in Tehran last week.

Ahmadinejad denied holding Shourd's two companions â€" Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal â€" as leverage for the release of convicted Iranians from U.S. custody.

"How would you know that those Iranians are criminals? Are you a judge?" he asked when pressed about their activities.

He said that while he may give a "recommendation" for the Americans' release, that it is ultimately a matter for the law.

"We are saddened that there are individuals in prison and it makes us unhappy when people are in prison anywhere in the world, whether in Iran or in the United States or elsewhere. We want people to be free and not to suffer. But at the end of the day, there's a law that determines who stays in prison and who does not."

"The cases have to be examined. They [Bauer and Fattal] violated the law."

Later in the wide-ranging interview, Ahmadinejad strongly dismissed increased U.S. sanctions on Iran, calling them "meaningless," "insulting" and "illegal."

"We do take sanctions seriously, but taking it seriously is different from believing that they are effective," he told ABC's Christiane Amanpour. "These are two different issues. We consider this and have reported it as a serious violation of international law."

He described the sanctions as marking a "new level of progress" in the Iranian economy, and said that businesspeople have "created opportunities" from them.

"None of this is a problem," he emphasized. "I want to stress this is not a problem. If you want to say it's effective, why not wait for the next 6 months or a year and to see with your own eyes whether there are effects or not. And I tell you there are none."