According to the German newspaper “Die Welt”, there are at least four German citizens currently imprisoned in Iran and the federal government of Germany is aware of this fact based on its own information but has not identified any of the prisoners or the reasons for their arrest.

Welt says the federal government provided the information in response to a question from the Green party foreign policy-maker Omid Nouripour, which explicitly asked about Germans imprisoned in Iran for political reasons.

The federal government announced that it has not confirmed Nahid Taghavi’s arrest. According to the newspaper, the answer to Nouripour’s request said that the Foreign Office was working hard to clarify the background to her imprisonment and had asked the Iranian Foreign Ministry several times for consular access to the 66-year-old.

Previously in response to a question about Taghavi by Iran International, the German Foreign Ministry said that it has not received any official reports from the Islamic Republic about the arrest of Nahid Taghavi and it will continue its efforts to clarify her situation. Iran does not recognize dual citizenship and treats all dual citizens as Iranians, therefore it does not grant them consular access.

Nahid Taghavi was arrested in October at her home in Tehran while visiting Iran. Taghavi is an architect and has been living in the city of Cologne in Germany since 1983 as a German citizen.

So far, the federal government has not confirmed Taghavi’s arrest. According to the newspaper, the answer to Nouripour’s request said that the Foreign Office was working hard to clarify the background to her imprisonment and had asked the Iranian Foreign Ministry several times for consular access to the 66-year-old.

“It is well known that the authorities in Iran keep arresting dual nationals from Great Britain and the United States in order to put pressure on their governments,” Nouripour told the “Welt”. The current alleged imprisonment of several Germans shows that Iran “no longer treats the Federal Republic with privileges”. The Green politician warned: “Apparently, the Germans are now also in the crosshairs.”

Nazanin Zaghari, Siamak and Bagher Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, and Fariba Adelkhah are among the dual citizens currently incarcerated in Iran. Masoud Saheb, a 73-year-old Iranian Austrian citizen has also been sentenced to 10 years in prison.