German Woman Faces 'Security Charge' in Iran

A prison guard stands along a corridor in Tehran's Evin prison June 13, 2006. (Reuters)
A prison guard stands along a corridor in Tehran's Evin prison June 13, 2006. (Reuters)
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German Woman Faces 'Security Charge' in Iran

A prison guard stands along a corridor in Tehran's Evin prison June 13, 2006. (Reuters)
A prison guard stands along a corridor in Tehran's Evin prison June 13, 2006. (Reuters)

A German-Iranian national held in Iran faces a "security charge", her daughter said as a court held a first hearing in the case on Wednesday.

Nahid Taghavi, 66, was arrested at her Tehran apartment on October 16 after years fighting for human rights in Iran, in particular for women's rights and freedom of expression, according to the rights group IGFM.

"Today was the first hearing of #NahidTaghavi Another trial day is scheduled, date unknown," her daughter Mariam Claren wrote on Twitter.

"My mother was allowed to see her brothers. They hugged her. Her first hug after almost seven months."

Taghavi's brothers were not allowed in the hearing but were given access to her, Claren said.

"She is accused of a 'security charge'," Claren told AFP, adding that details were hazy but that it related to "propaganda against the state".

Claren said her mother, an architect, had been held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, and has been placed in isolation in the last four weeks.

"My biggest worry is her health," she said.

Claren said her mother's lawyer had only been given access to the charge sheet on Saturday and had yet to see the case files.

Germany's foreign ministry said in October that it was aware of the arrest of a German-Iranian woman in Iran, but did not name the detained citizen.



US Will Exert Maximum Pressure on Iran via Sanctions, Bessent Says

 Scott Bessent, United States Secretary of the Treasury, speaks at an Economic Club of New York luncheon in New York, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP)
Scott Bessent, United States Secretary of the Treasury, speaks at an Economic Club of New York luncheon in New York, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP)
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US Will Exert Maximum Pressure on Iran via Sanctions, Bessent Says

 Scott Bessent, United States Secretary of the Treasury, speaks at an Economic Club of New York luncheon in New York, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP)
Scott Bessent, United States Secretary of the Treasury, speaks at an Economic Club of New York luncheon in New York, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP)

The US will exert a campaign of maximum pressure of sanctions Iran to collapse its oil exports and put pressure on its currency, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday.

"Making Iran broke again will mark the beginning of our updated sanctions policy," Bessent told members of the Economic Club of New York.