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Germany welcomes release of German-Iranian rights activist from prison in Iran and her return home

Germany has welcomed the release of a German-Iranian rights activist from prison in Iran and her return to Germany

Via AP news wire
Monday 13 January 2025 08:24 EST
Germany Iran Prisoner Release
Germany Iran Prisoner Release

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Germany's foreign minister on Monday welcomed the release of a German-Iranian rights activist from prison in Iran and her return to Germany.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on the social media platform X that it's ā€œa great moment of joy that Nahid Taghavi can finally embrace her family again.ā€

Baerbock retweeted a post by Taghavi's daughter, Mariam Claren, with a photo of herself hugging her mother, which said: ā€œItā€™s over. Nahid is free! After more than 4 years as a political prisoner in the Islamic Republic of Iran my mother Nahid Taghavi was freed and is back in Germany.ā€

The German Foreign Office expressed delight that Taghaviā€™s ā€œtime of suffering has come to an end and that she has been reunited with her family.ā€

ā€œMs. Taghavi and her family have endured unbearable hardship,ā€ the ministry said, adding that the German government had worked hard for her ā€œoverdue release.ā€

Taghavi was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison in Iran in 2021.

Rights group Amnesty International, which lobbied for Taghavi's release for years, said in a statement Monday that ā€œafter more than 1,500 days in arbitrary detention, Iranian-German womenā€™s rights activist Nahid Taghavi has been released.ā€

ā€œSince her arrest, Amnesty International had been campaigning for her unconditional release and an end to her persecution,ā€ the group said, adding that Taghavi landed in Germany on Sunday.

Taghavi was arrested in October 2020 during a visit to Tehran and later sentenced to prison for alleged involvement in an ā€œillegal groupā€ and for ā€œpropaganda against the state" and was held incommunicado for months and tortured, Amnesty International said.

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