German-Iranian woman Nahid Taghavi has been released from prison in Iran, her daughter announced.
“Over. Nahid is free! After more than four years as a political prisoner in the Islamic Republic of Iran, my mother… was released and returned to Germany,” Mariam Klaren wrote to X.
Taghavi, 70, was arrested in Tehran in October 2020. and sentenced to 10 years in prison the following August after being convicted of forming a group “with the aim of disrupting national security” and “spreading propaganda against the system”.
Amnesty International said the charges, which she denied, were apparently linked to a women's rights social media account and that the trial was grossly unfair.
In response to a photo of Taghavi and her daughter hugging at an airport on Sunday, German Foreign Minister Analena Berbock wrote: “A great moment of joy that Nahid Taghavi can finally hug his family again.”
There was no immediate comment from the Iranian judiciary.
Amnesty International said Taghavi's health had deteriorated significantly while being held at the notorious Evin prison – in Iran's capital Tehran – where it said conditions were “cruel and inhumane” and medical care was “inadequate”.
She spent seven months in solitary confinement between her arrest and sentencing, during which time she was forced to sleep on the floor, the release said.
Tagavi also suffered from a herniated disc, osteoporosis, diabetes and high blood pressure, according to her daughter.
In July 2022 Tagavi was granted emergency medical leave from prison to treat back and neck problems. However, four months later she was returned back to Evin.
Another inmate at Evin, Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, warned in June 2023 that Taghavi's life was “in danger”, saying she was in so much pain that she “can barely get out of bed “.
Tagavi was granted medical leave twice more in 2024.
The first began in January and lasted several weeks, but she was returned to prison before she had completed her treatment, the second began at the end of September. During these periods, she had to wear an electronic ankle tag and had to stay within 1 km (less than a mile) of her home in Tehran.
Amnesty reported that Taghavi returned to Germany on Sunday.
“Words cannot describe our joy,” Taghavi's daughter said in a separate statement released by the rights group on Monday.
“At the same time, we mourn the four years that were stolen from us and the horror she had to endure in Evin prison.
Amnesty has called on Iran to release dozens of other dual nationals and many other non-violent political prisoners who it says have been arbitrarily detained.
Taghavi's release comes months after the death of another jailed German-Iranian dual citizen sparked a diplomatic row between Berlin and Tehran.
In late October, Baerbock ordered the closure of all three Iranian consulates in Germany after Iranian state media reported that Jamshid Sharmahd, a US-based dissident who was sentenced to death in 2023. after a trial that human rights groups say was unfair – he was arrested and executed.
However, the Iranian justice spokesman said days later that Sharmahd “died before the sentence was carried out”. His family said they did not believe anything Iranian authorities said and called for an international investigation.