By the CNN Wire Staff
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Two Iranians detained for years in Iraq by U.S. troops have been freed and are headed home, officials at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad told CNN on Friday.
The release comes as the mothers of three imprisoned American hikers visit their incarcerated children in Iran. The mothers have been imploring the Iranian regime to release them.
But Iranian officials said the release of the two in Iraq has no connection to the status of the three hikers.
Ahmed Barazandeh was arrested seven years ago by U.S. troops in the Iraqi city of Samarra. He had been traveling from Najaf to Samarra on a religious pilgrimage and was detained after he separated from his group.
The second man -- identified by officials at Iran's Baghdad Embassy as Abdullah Maleki and by Iran's Press TV as Ali Abdulmalek -- was arrested by U.S. troops more than two years ago because he was not carrying a passport when he entered Iraq. Link
