Four former German presidents appeal to Iran over reporters

Sun, 05 Dec 2010

Berlin - Four former German presidents issued a joint appeal to Iran to release two detained German reporters being held since early October on charges of espionage.

The group - Horst Koehler, Roman Herzog, Walter Scheel and Richard von Weizsaecker - published their appeal in the Sunday paper Bild am Sonntag, the paper for which the two reporters were working.

Koehler, who stepped down from office last May and who has since stayed out of the public limelight, urged Tehran, in a spirit of humanity and the traditionally good German-Iranian relations, to release the journalists and enable them to join their families for the Christmas holidays.

Herzog, president from 1994 to 1999, said a "great cultural nation like Iran should exercise justice" and permit the reporters to leave. He noted that "particularly in the Koran the idea of mercy plays an important role."

Scheel (1974-1979), pointed to his own age, 92, to note that he had experienced "what it means not to be able to freely express one's opinion" - an apparent reference to the Nazi regime of his youth.

Every state must accept freedom and free reporting by journalists, "therefore I appeal to the Iranian government to release the two reporters before Christmas," Scheel said.

Von Weizsaecker (1984-1994) described Iran as a "significant country with a great, independent culture ... and a distinct self- confidence," adding "So I expect that this state, because of critical media voices, will not take revenge on the reporters."

The two - a reporter and a photographer - were arrested on October 10 in north-western Iran while interviewing the son of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a woman sentenced to death by stoning for murder and adultery.

The men had entered Iran with tourist visas and stand accused of espionage and engaging in a smear campaign against Iran. In mid- November, the two appeared on Iranian state television apparently admitting their wrongdoing.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356638,presidents-appeal-iran-reporters.html.