The Iranian authorities have charged two German reporters who work for the tabloid Bild am Sonntag with espionage, following their attempts to interview the lawyer and son of Sakineh Mohammadi Aschtiani, 43, whose 2006 death sentence by stoning prompted international outrage, reports say.

The reporter and photojournalist were arrested on 10 October in Tabriz in north-western Iran, where they had reportedly gone to interview the convicted woman’s lawyer. Her lawyer, Hootan Kian, and son, Sajjad Gaderzadeh, were taken into custody at the same time.

The pair was originally accused of posing as tourists, but an official yesterday confirmed that they have been charged with espionage, Reuters reported. Spying carries a penalty of death in the Islamic republic.

The charge comes one day after the Germans were shown on an Iranian state television channel, along with Aschtiani’s lawyer and son. Reports say that the journalists are shown admitting that they made a mistake.  Ashchtiani’s son was also shown saying that his mother’s lawyer had told him that she had been tortured, and said he had “lied to the foreign media about everything,” reports say.

Bild am Sonntag editor-in-chief Walter Mayer was quoted by the paper on Sunday as saying, “For over a month we have been afraid for the lives of two reporters who are detained in Iran. We are doing everything in our power to help our colleagues and their relatives. For their protection we will not reveal any further details.”