Germany warns reporter that Iran could take her as political hostage

News outlet relocates to Turkey

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
Prison, death row (illustrative) (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Prison, death row (illustrative)
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
BERLIN – Germany’s foreign ministry warned the Iranian-German television reporter Natalie Amiri that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s security forces could seize her as a political hostage, prompting the journalist’s news outlet to relocate its production to Turkey.
Amiri told the German press program ZAPP that "there was a warning from the foreign ministry" about her safety in Iran. ZAPP wrote that “For Natalie Amiri, ARD correspondent in Tehran, it is too dangerous in Iran to work.”
“Support measures from Germany, when Amiri is in Iran, are extremely limited in the case of special developments,"said the Bavarian news outlet Bayerischer Rundfunk.
ZAPP reported that journalists are “enemies of the state” in the repressive Iranian regime. Reporters Without Borders ranked the Islamic Republic as one of the most repressive nations for the journalists. According to the media freedom organization, Iran’s regime was classified at number 173 of 180 ranked countries.
Amiri said there is no free press in Iran, even when Iranian journalists publish blogs because they can be arrested and blocked from receiving aid.
Amiri has both German and Iranian passports. Iran’s regime frequently imprisons foreign nationals who are also Iranian citizens. Some of the dual nationals are currently in Iranian prisons are: Ahmadreza Djalali (Iranian-Swedish national), Morad Tahbaz (Iranian-British-American national), Kamran Ghaderi and Massud Mossaheb (Iranian-Austrian nationals).
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe a British-Iranian mother, also remains a hostage of Tehran.
Last month, UN human rights experts urged Iran’s leaders to temporarily release all dual and foreign nationals to prevent their exposure to the deadly coronavirus in Iran’s prison system.