Germany's Foreign Ministry has confirmed that two German nationals detained in Iran, Marcus Hellwig and Jens Koch, have been released following their trial.
"The two Germans are currently in Tabriz in the company of a representative from the German consulate," a German Ministry spokesman said on Saturday.
"We hope to get them into the care of the German Embassy in Tehran today," AFP quoted the German official as saying.
Hellwig and Koch, posing as reporters, had interviewed the son of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a woman who has been convicted of complicity in the murder of her husband as well as adultery, PressTV reported.
They were arrested in October 2010 in the Iranian city of Tabriz, and had initially been sentenced to 20 months in prison on charges of acting against the national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
However, on Saturday, Iran's Revolution Court branch in Tabriz converted their prison sentence to fines of USD 50,000 each.
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle arrived in Tehran on Saturday to hold talks about bilateral ties between the two countries and discuss recent developments in the region.
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