Health of German woman jailed in Iran failing, says activist

A 66-year-old German-Iranian woman detained in Iran is suffering from severe ill health, a fellow prisoner at Tehran's Evin jail said on June 4.

"The life of Nahid Taghavi, a political prisoner, is in danger," the prize-winning campaigner and rights activist Narges Mohammadi wrote on Instagram, DW reports.

Taghavi, a women's rights activist, is serving a nearly 11-year sentence in Iran after being arrested in 2020 and convicted a year later on national security violations. Her family vehemently rejects the accusations.

Taghavi receives 'strong painkiller injections'

Mohammadi wrote that Taghavi is so ill she can "barely get out of her bed."

She added that Taghavi "goes to the infirmary, receives strong painkiller injections and returns to her bed."

"The pain is so severe it can be seen on her face," she added.

A partial English translation of the post was tweeted by Taghavi's daughter, Mariam Claren.

Seven months in isolation

Mohammadi said that Taghavi had now spent 220 days in isolation, and over the past few days her health has deteriorated.

The confinement had worsened an existing spinal disc condition, Mohammadi added, and Taghavi was now also suffering from cervical disc problems, diabetes and high blood pressure.

Taghavi was allowed brief medical leave in 2022, but according to her family, she was returned to jail before she could recover and is being held in solitary confinement.

She was convicted along with British-Iranian Mehran Raoof, who is also still being held.

As well as Taghavi, another Iranian-German national, Jamshid Sharmahd, is facing execution any day.

Sharmahd was captured by Iran in August 2020, while traveling through the UAE, and charged with terrorism over a deadly 2008 bombing.

He was sentenced to death in February, a verdict that has since been upheld by the supreme court.

Family members, human rights activists and an array of German politicians have described the allegations against him as unfounded.