The dual-national, one of many to be targeted in recent years, was given a grossly unfair trial on fabricated ‘national security’ charges

Taghavi was detained and tried alongside UK national Mehran Raoof, who remains in jail 

‘We are grieving the four years that were taken from us and the horrors she had to endure at Evin prison’ - daughter Mariam Claren

Amnesty International has welcomed the release of German-Iranian women’s rights activist Nahid Taghavi, who had been held in arbitrary detention in Iran for more than four years. 

Taghavi, who lives in Cologne, was released yesterday and has returned to Germany.

Amnesty has been campaigning for Taghavi’s release, and had demanded an end to her persecution since she was arrested in Iran in October 2020. Her release must now mark the first of many in Iran, said Amnesty. 

Taghavi’s daughter, human rights activist Mariam Claren, said:

“My mother has finally come home. We don’t have the words to describe how happy we are. 

“At the same time, we are grieving the four years that were taken from us and the horrors she had to endure at Evin prison.

“There are many more prisoners of conscience like my mother who are still imprisoned in Iran. Hundreds are at risk of being executed. 

“The Iranian authorities must no longer enjoy impunity for their actions.”

Julia Duchrow, Secretary General of Amnesty International Germany, said:

“We are overjoyed about the release of Nahid Taghavi and are very happy for her and her family. 

“Nahid Taghavi was detained solely because she peacefully exercised her right to freedom of expression - she should never have been imprisoned in the first place.

“The authorities must immediately release all those who have been arbitrarily detained, including prisoners of conscience.”

Kept in solitary confinement

Nahid Taghavi, who has been politically active since her student days, was arrested during a visit to Tehran in October 2020. Following a grossly unfair trial, she was sentenced to ten years and eight months in prison on charges of belonging to an “illegal group” and conducting “propaganda activities against the state”. The charges against her were fabricated, and between the time of her arrest and her sentencing she was held in solitary confinement for more than seven months. She had no bed and had to sleep on the floor without pillows. She was under surveillance 24 hours a day and was only allowed outside - blindfolded - for fresh air for 30 minutes each day. These cruel and inhumane prison conditions had stark consequences for Taghavi, and her health deteriorated significantly during her detention. In July 2022, Taghavi was released on medical parole because her health condition had become acute. However, on 13 November 2022 she was recalled to prison despite her medical treatment being ongoing. She was temporarily released on medical grounds twice more in 2024, when she was put under house arrest in her flat, made to wear an ankle tag and to stay within a 1,000-metre radius of home.

Arrested and sentenced alongside UK national Mehran Raoof

Nahid Taghavi was arrested alongside the UK-Iranian workers’ rights activist, Mehran Raoof, and they were both sentenced on charges relating to allegations that they “formed a group composed of more than two people with the purpose of disrupting national security”. Interrogators subjected Raoof to torture and other ill-treatment, including by threatening to harm him if he did not cooperate and holding him in a room with the lights on 24 hours a day, causing him mental distress. Raoof is still in arbitrary detention in Iran and Amnesty has been campaigning for his immediate and unconditional release. In recent years, the Iranian authorities have detained dozens of people holding dual citizenship, including journalists, academics and human rights defenders. In 2019, then UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Iran, Javaid Rehman, and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that the Iranian authorities have employed a tactic of using arbitrarily-detained dual-nationals and foreign nationals as bargaining chips.