Tehran, Iran • Iran on Saturday freed two German journalists arrested four months ago after they interviewed the son of an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.

An Iranian court threw out their 20-month prison sentence Saturday, commuting it to a fine of $50,000 each and clearing the way for their release, state media reported. Their newspaper said it expected them to leave the country in the coming days, perhaps as early as Sunday, and Germany's foreign minister arrived in Tehran on Saturday night in apparent preparation to bring them home.

The Germans — a reporter and a photographer for the Berlin-based mass-circulation tabloid Bild am Sonntag — got caught up in one of the many confrontations between Iran and the West, this one over the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.

The mother of two has been convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning, generating widespread international outrage.