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

BERLIN — 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 ''a great moment of joy that Nahid Taghavi can finally embrace her family again.''

Baerbock retweeted a post by Taghavi's daughter, Mariam Claren, with a photo of herself hugging her mother, which said: ''It'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.''

The German Foreign Office expressed delight that Taghavi's ''time of suffering has come to an end and that she has been reunited with her family.''

''Ms. Taghavi and her family have endured unbearable hardship,'' the ministry said, adding that the German government had worked hard for her ''overdue release.''

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 ''after more than 1,500 days in arbitrary detention, Iranian-German women's rights activist Nahid Taghavi has been released.''

''Since her arrest, Amnesty International had been campaigning for her unconditional release and an end to her persecution,'' 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 ''illegal group'' and for ''propaganda against the state" and was held incommunicado for months and tortured, Amnesty International said.