Iran Saturday released two German nationals who were detained for illegal journalistic activities, the state IRIB TV reported.

Marcus Hellwig and Jens Koch were each sentenced to 24 months in jail by the Tabriz Revolution Court Saturday. They had already passed 4 month in detention and the court converted the rest 20 month of their prison penalty to cash fines of 50,000 U.S. dollars each, Iran's northwestern East Azerbaijan province judiciary chief was quoted as saying.

The judiciary official who was identified by his last name, Sharifi, said that they were found to deserve the Islamic mercy and hence reduction in their sentence.

German Foreign Ministry confirmed the release.

In October, Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hosein Mohseni- Ejei said Iran had arrested two foreigners who interviewed the son of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani who has been on death row since 2006.

Mohseni-Ejei said it was found out later that the two foreigners who interviewed Ashtiani's son were not journalists, or did not carry any document to prove they were journalists.

Ashtiani's case become internationally known in 2010 after high profile reports that she was convicted of extramarital affairs and sentenced to death by stoning.