Germany demands that reporters held in Iran see family members

Sun, 26 Dec 2010

Berlin/Tehran - German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Sunday demanded that two German journalists being held in Iran should be allowed to meet with family members.

"I want to express my expectation that a meeting with family members can take place over Christmas," Westerwelle told German Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

The journalists - a reporter and a photographer for Bild am Sonntag - were arrested on October 10 when they sought to interview the son and lawyer of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a woman jailed for adultery and allegedly helping to murder her husband. The journalists had entered Iran on tourist visas.

The newspaper reported that the mother of the photographer and the reporter's sister had traveled to Tehran to visit the men.

Iranian sources said a meeting had been scheduled for Saturday, but was canceled because the journalists had not yet been moved to Tehran from the north-western city of Tabriz where they were arrested.

The Iranian authorities said they had assured German diplomats that they were doing everything to ensure the relatives would be able to meet on Sunday.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359715,iran-see-family-members.html.