German citizen Nahid Taghavi freed from prison in Iran

Activist returns to Germany after four years in detention

Nahid Taghavi, left, with her daughter Mariam Claren after she was released from prison in Iran and arrived at the airport Cologne-Bonn in Wahn, Germany, on Sunday. AP

A German-Iranian woman jailed for more than four years in Tehran has been freed from prison and returned to Germany.

Women's rights lawyer Nahid Taghavi was reunited with her daughter Mariam Claren in Germany after more than 1,500 days in custody in Iran. “It's over. Nahid is free,” Ms Claren wrote on social media. “My mother is finally home,” she said. “Words are not enough to describe our joy.”

Ms Taghavi was arrested in Tehran in October 2020 and sentenced to 10 years and eight months on what her supporters said were spurious charges. Amnesty International described her as a political prisoner and said she was tortured and kept in isolation.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said it was a “great moment of joy that Nahid Taghavi can finally embrace her family again”. Ms Taghavi's family had criticised Germany and the EU for failing to take a tougher line with Iran.

Berlin shut three Iranian consulates last year after the execution of dual national Jamshid Sharmahd, but has kept channels open for talks on hostages and nuclear issues. Britain, Germany and France were holding informal talks with Iran in Geneva on Monday as they prepare for Donald Trump's return to the White House.

Maximum pressure

During his first term Mr Trump pursued a “maximum pressure” policy towards Iran and withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal. In his second term he could push European powers to join him in a “multilateral maximum pressure” campaign, said Jason Brodsky of campaign group United Against Nuclear Iran.

A new policy could include isolating Iran diplomatically, Mr Brodsky told The National. “That's where Europe comes in, because Europe has many more touch points with Iran than the United States does. Downgrading diplomatic ties, reducing the space that the Iranians have to operate in Europe – that's very important.

“The Europeans can still speak to the Iranians irrespective of these steps, but let's understand that there needs to be an architecture that's constructed on the hostage issue that's independent of the piecemeal approach that European countries take to getting their nationals out.

“There needs to be a crackdown on the supply of western nationals going into Iran, as well as the demand for the Iranians to take hostage in the first place. I have not seen the Europeans or the US really construct that pressure architecture.”

Rights groups had demanded the release of Nahid Taghavi, one of several dual nationals detained in Iran. A second, Jamshid Sharmahd, was executed last year despite protests from Germany. AFP

Iran has a history of taking dual citizens prisoner and has often been accused of using them as political bargaining chips. Ms Taghavi was arrested as part of an operation in which UK-Iranian Mehran Raoof was also detained.

Ms Taghavi was sentenced to prison on charges of spreading propaganda and belonging to a banned group. Ms Claren said her mother was interrogated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for more than 1,000 hours without being allowed a lawyer.

“My mother’s trials were a farce,” Ms Claren wrote for The National in 2023 as she described conditions in solitary confinement “designed to break the prisoner”. She said her mother slept on a stone floor in a small cell, without a bed, mattress or pillow for 194 days. “She wore a blindfold for months, was monitored by cameras and had little access to fresh air,” she said.

Last January Ms Taghavi was granted a partial release from Evin prison, but was restricted to within a kilometre of her apartment in Tehran while wearing an ankle tag. She was returned to prison in February 2024.

“Nahid Taghavi was imprisoned merely because she freely exercised her right to express her opinion. It should never have been allowed to happen,” said Amnesty's general secretary in Germany, Julia Duchrow.

Iran announced on Sunday that a national held in Italy on a US extradition warrant had returned home. Days earlier, Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was released from a Tehran jail, following intense diplomatic efforts by Italy's government.