Two German journalists detained in Iran for 11 weeks were allowed to stay overnight at a provincial hotel with visiting relatives, the German Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
The meeting began late Monday in Tabriz and the detainees and their kin were still together 10 hours later on Tuesday morning, a spokeswoman for the ministry told the German Press Agency dpa.
The journalists - a reporter and a photographer - entered Iran on tourist visas and were arrested October 10 when they sought to interview the son and the lawyer of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman jailed on charges of adultery and involvement in her husband's murder.
Iran says the pair violated visa regulations by doing journalistic work.
Bild am Sonntag, the Sunday newspaper that employs the duo, reported that the family members who travelled to Iran in the hopes of a visit were the photographer's mother and the reporter's sister.
Berlin officials said they would return to Tehran, 600 kilometres from Tabriz, after the meeting was over, then fly back to Germany.
German embassy officials and Iranian security officers were present during the meeting, but kept a discreet distance.
The meeting took place after Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle held multiple meetings with the Iranian ambassador to Germany, expressing outrage that the men could not meet with their families during the Christmas holidays.
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