By DPA,
Berlin: Germany was Wednesday seeking the release of two German reporters arrested in Iran for allegedly interviewing “counter-revolutionaries” whilst on tourist visas.
The Germans, as yet unnamed and with no official confirmation of who they were reporting for, had apparently interviewed the son of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for murder and adultery.
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said his office was doing all it could to secure the release of the German nationals, who they had not yet been able to contact directly.
“We are working with urgency at resolving this case,” Westerwelle said, adding that he had asked his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki to take the issue up in person.
Iranian Human rights activist Mina Ahadi appealed for Germany to also secure the release of the 22-year-old son of Mohammadi-Ashtiani and his lawyer – who she said were arrested at the same time.
“Please don’t forget in all your effort that not two, but four people were arrested. We must not allow the two Iranians to be forgotten,” Ahadi said.
Ahadi, who lives under police protection in Cologne, was acting as an interpreter over the phone during the interview in norhtwest Iran. She told German Press Agency dpa that she heard a scuffle as police were arresting the men.
“I am in contact with the frustrated families of the two Iranians. They don’t know in which prison their relatives are. They have been denied all contact,” Ahadi told DPA.
Mohammadi-Ashtiani’s case has drawn international attention and outrage. Seemingly under international pressure, the Iranian authorities temporarily suspended the stoning sentence earlier this year.
Ahadi said it was absurd to call the men “counter- revolutionaries.”
“This is a 22-year-old man who wants to save his mother from death, and a brave lawyer,” said Ahadi, who is a spokeswoman for the International Committee against Stoning.
Legal experts in Tehran have said that if the authorities charge the pair with working under a false visa they could be expelled for breaking press laws.
But if they were judged to have been acting as human rights activists they could face the more serious charge of endangering national security.