Free Nahid, German Hostage in Iran | Pod Hostage Diplomacy

POD HOSTAGE DIPLOMACY

On 16 October 2020, 66 year old German citizen, Nahid Taghavi decided to go for a walk near her apartment in Tehran. It was a week after she had surgery and Nahid had high blood pressure. Within moments, she was surrounded by 12 armed men from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also known as the IRGC. She was arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison where she remains to this day.

Shortly after Nahid’s arrest, the German government updated their travel advisory warning German citizens who also hold Iranian nationality against travelling to Iran. Members of the German Bundestag from multiple political parties have stated that Nahid is unjustly detained and called for her release. Amnesty International has called Nahid Taghavi a prisoner of conscience. Nahid’s daughter believes she is being used as a bargaining chip by the IRGC to extract concessions from the German government. This would be hostage diplomacy. We speak to Nahid’s daughter, Mariam Claren to find out what we can do to help free Nahid.

We discuss her arrest, solitary confinement, getting COVID-19 in Evin prison, her sham trial, her unjust sentence, going public with the Free Nahid campaign, how her case relates to the JCPOA negotiations, the importance of calling her a hostage, working with other hostage families as well as what the German government, businesses, journalists and the public can do to help bring Nahid Taghavi home to Germany.
If you prefer, you can watch the video version of this interview on YouTube.
For more information on Nahid Taghavi, please check out the following:

• Free Nahid petition
• Mariam Claren's Twitter account
• Social media hashtag: FreeNahid

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