Germany is becoming increasingly concerned over two of its journalists who were detained in the Islamic Republic last week after allegedly interviewing the son and lawyer of a woman sentenced to stoning, but without having proper credentials.
German officials have begun stepping up efforts to get the two reporters released in a case that could lead to a diplomatic row between the two countries.
Manouchehr Mottaki
During a one-hour long meeting Friday in Brussels, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwellepleaded to his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki for Iran to show "mercy" to the detainees and for the foreign minister to personally intervene in the case, both Iranian state media and German media reported.
The Iranian foreign minister offered a simple response to the plea.
"The issue of the two German nationals would be pursued in framework of law and judicial system," he was quoted as saying by the semi-official Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA).
Westerwelle nevertheless appeared optimistic about the meeting, saying he got the "impression that foreign minister Mottaki will also take up this matter personally," according to Germany's Der Spiegel.
European parliament vice-president Roberta Angelilli intends to help organise a Italian and European networks of women in support of an Iranian woman death-by-stoning has been suspended.
"We decided to build a network of women for Sakineh," Angelilli told Adnkronos International (AKI) in an interview on Friday. "It would be a bipartisan grouping of diverse political interests on the European and national level.
"All politicians would be involved to keep interest going in this case and to try to bring forward a motion by the European Parliament that would guard the rights of women and all the people in Iran."
AKI's newly launched 'Flowers not Stones!' campaign aims to save the life of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, a mother of two who has been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery and helping kill her husband.
