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How 5 countries celebrate Eid al-Fitr and the end of Ramadan

Eid al-Fitr began at sunset Thursday, when the crescent of a new moon first showed over the Middle East. The three-day feast celebrates the end of the a month-long period of Ramadan's fasting and prayer. Here is how five countries ring in Eid al-Fitr.

Iran

Vahid Salemi/AP
Muslim worshippers perform Eid al-Fitr prayers to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, at the shrine of Imam Reza, the 8th Shiite Muslims' Imam, at the city of Mashhad, about 540 miles northeast of the capital Tehran, Iran, Friday, Sept. 10.

  • By Staff

Iran said it would mark the end of Ramadan and the start of Eid al-Fitr by releasing one of the American hikers jailed in Tehran for more than a year.

Iran's Culture Ministry sent a text message to reporters Thursday telling them to come to a Tehran hotel Saturday to witness the release. "Offering congratulations on Eid al-Fitr," the ministry text message said, according to the . Ms. Shourd, 31, Shane Michael Bauer, 27, and Joshua Felix Fattal, 27, were arrested in July 2009

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told Thursday that, "given that Eid al-Fitr is upon us, it was decided that this lady [Sarah Emily Shourd] be released soon to rejoin with her family."

Iran's population is 98 percent Muslim, and predominately Shiite, according to the .

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