Two European dual citizens will stand trial next week in Iran on undisclosed charges as talks restart to try to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
Campaigners on behalf of German woman Nahid Taghavi, 66, and Briton Mehran Raoof, 64, said their cases should be highlighted before any new agreement over the nuclear deal is struck with Tehran.
The pair were both arrested on October 16 after a round-up of activists in Tehran and have been held in the city's Evin jail. Their lawyers, trying to discover what charges they face, are being denied access to their case files.
A friend of Mr Raoof, a long-standing labour rights campaigner, said that authorities arrested a number of activists after secretly monitoring political meetings of more than a dozen activists at a Tehran coffee shop.
The pair are due to go on trial on April 28 with a third woman, an Iranian who was arrested on the same night. Supporters were told they will be tried separately.
One of those held in the sweep in October, Arash Johari, was sentenced to 16 years in prison on national security charges, raising fears of harsh sentences for others.
Ms Taghavi was brought before a court last week in preparation for the trial, after being returned to solitary confinement a week earlier.
Daren Nair, of Hostage Aid Worldwide, who is working with the families of both detainees, said Iran was notorious for detaining foreign and dual citizens on trumped-up charges and sentencing them to prison after unfair trials with limited access to lawyers.
"As the [nuclear deal] renegotiations are currently taking place, Hostage Aid Worldwide calls on the German government to work with the international community to free Nahid Taghavi immediately and unconditionally," he said.
The UK and Germany are both signatories to the deal and have been involved in talks seeking to bring the US back into the agreement after former president Donald Trump pulled out in 2018. Senior negotiators say the talks are making progress and will resume next week, but there are still major issues to be resolved.
"I don't understand what they [the German government] are doing," said Ms Taghavi's daughter Mariam Claren. "Is there such low pressure that Iran can do what it wants?"
Iran is accused of seizing foreign citizens without basis to use them as leverage during diplomatic disputes with foreign governments.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual citizen, is still in Iran after completing a five-year jail sentence as a dispute festers between the two countries over an unpaid £400 million ($557m) bill owed by the UK after an aborted arms deal in the 1970s.
Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian doctor, is under threat of execution for allegedly spying for Israel after he was arrested in 2016. Activists say his fate is tied to Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat jailed for 20 years in February by a Belgian court for plotting to blow up a dissidents' rally in France.
Ms Taghavi has been held in solitary confinement for more than six months of her detention with limited access to medicines for her high blood pressure. Supporters say her health has worsened.
In a phone call to her daughter today, Ms Taghavi said: "My body is completely damaged ... my skin is dry, sore and feels like leather. I have to sleep on a hard floor with no pillow – the pain in my back is unbearable."
Martin Lessenthin, of the International Society for Human Rights, said: “She is a victim of political hostage-taking and the arbitrary judicial system of Iran. Her isolation and the other conditions of her detention are torture. Germany's government must publicly address this.”
Mr Raoof, 64, who was born and raised in Iran, studied mechanical engineering in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, before the 1979 revolution.
He later lived in London and now spends most of his time in Tehran working as an English teacher and translator.
He was arrested at his flat in Tehran and officials seized his computer and mobile phone. Mr Raoof has been held in solitary confinement since his arrest.
Satar Rahmani, a UK-based colleague, said: “His lawyer hasn’t been given permission to visit him in prison or access to his documentation. We don’t know what is going to happen.”
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How Apple's credit card works
The Apple Card looks different from a traditional credit card — there's no number on the front and the users' name is etched in metal. The card expands the company's digital Apple Pay services, marrying the physical card to a virtual one and integrating both with the iPhone. Its attributes include quick sign-up, elimination of most fees, strong security protections and cash back.
What does it cost?
Apple says there are no fees associated with the card. That means no late fee, no annual fee, no international fee and no over-the-limit fees. It also said it aims to have among the lowest interest rates in the industry. Users must have an iPhone to use the card, which comes at a cost. But they will earn cash back on their purchases — 3 per cent on Apple purchases, 2 per cent on those with the virtual card and 1 per cent with the physical card. Apple says it is the only card to provide those rewards in real time, so that cash earned can be used immediately.
What will the interest rate be?
The card doesn't come out until summer but Apple has said that as of March, the variable annual percentage rate on the card could be anywhere from 13.24 per cent to 24.24 per cent based on creditworthiness. That's in line with the rest of the market, according to analysts
What about security?
The physical card has no numbers so purchases are made with the embedded chip and the digital version lives in your Apple Wallet on your phone, where it's protected by fingerprints or facial recognition. That means that even if someone steals your phone, they won't be able to use the card to buy things.
Is it easy to use?
Apple says users will be able to sign up for the card in the Wallet app on their iPhone and begin using it almost immediately. It also tracks spending on the phone in a more user-friendly format, eliminating some of the gibberish that fills a traditional credit card statement. Plus it includes some budgeting tools, such as tracking spending and providing estimates of how much interest could be charged on a purchase to help people make an informed decision.
* Associated Press
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Overall head-to-head
Federer 6-1 Cilic
Head-to-head at Wimbledon
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Grand Slams titles
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Federer: Winner (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012)
Cilic: Final (2017*)
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Specs
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The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
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