By DPA,
Berlin/Tehran : Two German journalists entered Iran and interviewed “counter-revolutionaries” illegally while using tourist visas, the foreign ministry in Tehran said Tuesday, as Berlin appealed for their release.
The pair, as yet unnamed and with no official confirmation for whom they were reporting, had apparently interviewed the son of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death for murder and adultery.
The German foreign ministry in Berlin said that a diplomatic team had been dispatched to the northern city of Tabriz, where the two were being held.
Speaking during a diplomatic visit to Romania Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for their release.
“We are naturally very concerned that the two citizens are freed,” Merkel said.
A spokesman for the foreign ministry said that they were attempting to ascertain the circumstances of their arrest. The ministry did not respond directly to the Iranian accusation.
Mohammadi-Ashtiani’s case has drawn international attention and outrage. Seemingly under international pressure, the Iranian authorities temporarily suspended the sentence of stoning to death earlier this year.
Human rights activist Mina Ahadi said she also believed Mohammadi-Ashtiani’s son may have been arrested. Ahadi, who lives in Cologne, told DPA that she had been acting as a translator for the journalists via telephone.
Legal experts in Tehran said that if the authorities charged 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.