TEHRAN, Iran — Iran freed two German journalists arrested four months ago in connection with a highly publicized stoning case, and Germany’s foreign minister went to Tehran on Saturday to bring the reporters home in a rare top-level visit by a Western government representative.
An Iranian court threw out the journalists’ 20-month prison sentence Saturday, commuting it to a fine of $50,000 each and clearing the way for their release, state media reported.
The Germans, a reporter and a photographer for the Berlin-based mass- circulation tabloid Bild am Sonntag, had interviewed the son of an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose case has generated widespread international outrage.
Marcus Hellwig and Jens Koch were detained in October. Iranian officials accused them of a range of serious crimes, from spying to having links to groups of Iranian exiles. The Associated Press
