“My mother is one of the victims,” says Mariam Claren (right). Image: Imago
The daughter of Nahid Taghavi, who was imprisoned in Iran, talks about the solidarity campaign with 1. FC Köln and the role of football in prison. She also criticizes the federal government.
The women’s rights activist Nahid Taghavi, 69 years old, has lived in Cologne for more than 40 years. She was arrested by the Islamic Republic of Iran during a visit to Iran in October 2020. She has German and Iranian citizenship. According to her daughter Mariam Claren, she spent more than seven months in solitary confinement and was allegedly interrogated for more than 1,000 hours by the Revolutionary Guards’ secret service, without legal representation and sometimes in the middle of the night, having to sleep on the floor in a fluorescent-lit cell.
In August 2021, she was sentenced to ten years and eight months in prison for “membership in an illegal group” and “propaganda against the state”. On Human Rights Day on December 10th, Amnesty International and 1. FC Köln are drawing attention to global human rights at home games in the women’s and men’s Bundesliga. Nahid Taghavi’s case is the focus here; the Cologne teams wear special jerseys for which their sponsors provide the advertising space.
