Two German tourists arrested near Damon Prison on Mount Carmel are free again after a Haifa judge found no basis for the security suspicions against them, FilIsrael reports. The two men spent two nights in detention before the court ordered their immediate release on Monday.

The case began Saturday evening. The Israel Police said in a statement on Sunday that two people were arrested on suspicion of security offenses after they were allegedly caught photographing the entrance to Damon Prison near Haifa, JNS reports. Officers from the Nesher police station were called to the scene, located the suspects and arrested them. The two were questioned at the station, and police planned to ask a court on Sunday to extend their detention, according to JNS. Ynet reported that the suspects are German citizens and that a search of their mobile phones found footage of security installations and activities.

TPS reported that prison guards at Damon first spotted the pair video-recording the facility's entrance. After detaining the two, officers made a preliminary search of their cellular phones and found footage and photographs of sensitive military sites and defense activities in Israel, TPS reports. The suspects were handed to the Israel Police for interrogation, and authorities set out to investigate the motives behind the footage. Investigation details were restricted while defense agencies weighed the matter, according to TPS.

By Monday the picture had changed. FilIsrael identifies the men as Gerald Wolf Mondel, 57, and Joachim Oliver Lange, 55, and reports that the Shin Bet quickly concluded the case had no connection to espionage and left the investigation to the local police. At a closed hearing in the Haifa Magistrate's Court, Judge Orit Kantor accepted the arguments of defense lawyers Bassam Kandelft and Fares Brik and lifted the gag order on the case, FilIsrael reports. The judge said nothing supported the suspicions and that no law forbids photographing the outside of a prison.

The judge ordered both men released without bail, FilIsrael reports. She also told the police to return their personal belongings, including their phones, and to escort them to their vehicle so they could continue their trip. Prison guards did their job by reporting what looked suspicious, and the courts did theirs by sorting out the facts.