German journalists freed in Iran

Revolutionary committeemen released a group of journalists from the West German magazine Stern Wednesday after 42 hours of questioning, Monitor correspondent Ned Temko reports.One of the reporters said, "We were well treated throughout."

The Germans, along with several Iranian assistants, were taken from the Intercontinental Hotel Monday on allegations that their car had been seen near the site of a Tehran bomb explosion. Efforts by the West German Embassy to get the detainees released Tuesday failed.

The journalists said they were questioned individually, with indirect "suggestions" that they had somehow been involved in the bombing. "But there was no real charge," Hans-Werner Hubner said. "We didn't really know what it was all about."

Complicating the situation was the fact that the Germans had not secured the special visas and press credentials required for journalists entering Iran.