Second Court Session Held for Nahid Taghavi and Mehran Raoof, Dual Citizen Prisoners in Iran
The second court session for Nahid Taghavi, an Iranian-German citizen, and Mehran Raoof, an Iranian-British citizen imprisoned in Iran, was held on Sunday, June 13.
Mostafa Neili, the defense lawyer for Mehran Raoof, announced the holding of the second trial session of his clients on his Twitter account, writing: “Today the second court session was held for the trial of the ladies Nahid Taghavi, Samia Kargar, Bahareh Soleimani, Nazanin Mohammadnejad, and Mr. Mehran Raoof.”
He noted in the continuation of this tweet that Mehran Raoof has been transferred from the security ward 2000 to ward one of Evin Prison since Saturday evening, after approximately eight months.
Heribert Hirte, a member of the German Parliament, has also written that Nahid Taghavi poses no threat to Iran’s national security, and he is following her trial proceedings with his colleagues in parliament.
Maryam Claren, the daughter of Ms. Taghavi, had previously told Voice of America that she was not given permission to access an independent and discretionary lawyer, and the case prosecutor told family members that to access the case file, they can only choose a lawyer from the list of court-appointed lawyers under Article 48. The judiciary has still not provided any explanation for the reason for Nahid Taghavi’s arrest.
Nahid Taghavi was arrested on Friday, October 16, 2020, following a home inspection and confiscation of some of her personal belongings by security forces, and was transferred to Evin Prison. During this time, the family of this political prisoner has been allowed to visit her only twice.
Star Rahmani, one of Mehran Raoof’s relatives, also told Voice of America that this labor activist, along with 15 others, became victims of a conspiracy by Iranian security and Revolutionary Guard officials. In a place where these individuals used to meet, the Revolutionary Guards, by sending a woman under the pretext of working there, gathered information against these people, which ultimately led to the arrest of Raoof and others.
Mehran Raoof, 64, a dual Iranian-British citizen, was also arrested on October 16 of last month when Revolutionary Guard forces raided his home, and was transferred to Evin Prison. He has been held in prolonged solitary confinement for months.
Currently, aside from Nahid Taghavi and Mehran Raoof, several American and non-American citizens—including Siamak and Baquer Namazi, Ars Amiri, Kamran Ghaddari, Masoud Massaheb, and Anousheh Ansari—are imprisoned in Iran.
In recent years, Iran has intensified the detention of foreign and dual citizens. The U.S. State Department has repeatedly condemned the arbitrary and capricious detention of American citizens and citizens of other countries, including dual-nationality Iranians, by the Islamic Republic, and has called for their immediate and unconditional release.
Source: Voice of America
