Detention of Iranian–Norwegian Citizen Shahin Mahmoudi
Norwegian authorities have confirmed that a Norwegian citizen has been detained in Iran, stating that due to privacy and data-protection obligations, they are unable to release further details.
Norwegian authorities have confirmed that a Norwegian citizen has been detained in Iran, stating that due to privacy and data-protection obligations, they are unable to release further details regarding the case. The Norwegian government has simultaneously strongly reiterated its travel warning, urging its citizens not to travel to Iran under any circumstances.
Iranian judicial authorities have not publicly announced or acknowledged the arrest. However, on Monday, HRANA, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran network, reported that Shahin Mahmoudi, a 46-year-old Iranian–Norwegian dual national, was arrested in the city of Saqqez, located in Kurdistan province.
According to HRANA, Ms. Mahmoudi is currently being held in a state of legal limbo at the Intelligence Ministry detention facility in Sanandaj. The report states that she was summoned by telephone on Sunday, December 14, to the Intelligence Office in Saqqez, where she was detained upon presenting herself later that same day and subsequently transferred to Sanandaj.
HRANA further reports that no formal charges have been disclosed, and that the specific accusations remain unclear. The agency also noted that Ms. Mahmoudi had traveled from Norway to Iran on Friday, November 28, shortly before her arrest.
Information published on the website of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs underscores the structural vulnerability of dual nationals in Iran, noting that Iran does not recognize dual citizenship. As a result, the Norwegian embassy in Tehran has described it as “almost impossible” to provide consular assistance to Iranian–Norwegian citizens in cases of detention.
The arrest of Ms. Mahmoudi takes place amid a broader pattern of detentions of dual nationals in Iran over the past decade, frequently on charges such as “espionage” or “acting against national security.” European governments, the European Union, and international human rights organizations have repeatedly characterized the detention of dual nationals by Iranian authorities as a form of “hostage-taking” or political leverage, arguing that such detainees are often used as bargaining tools in diplomatic negotiations. In previous cases, several foreign or dual-national prisoners have been released following negotiations, including through financial payments or prisoner exchanges involving Iranian nationals held abroad.
In a recent and related development, Asghar Jahangir, spokesperson for Iran’s judiciary, announced last week that the verdict in the case of an Iranian–Swedish dual national accused of spying for Israel’s intelligence services would be issued imminently. Sweden’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently confirmed that it had summoned Iran’s ambassador in protest.
This cases stands in apparent contrast to Iran’s newly enacted “Law for the Support of Iranians Abroad”—legislation explicitly framed by Iranian officials as an effort to ease travel, strengthen legal protections, and rebuild trust with the diaspora, including dual nationals. While the law promises pre-travel clearance mechanisms, guarantees against arbitrary detention, and disciplinary penalties for officials who violate such assurances, the detention of Shahin Mahmoudi underscores a persistent paradox within Iran’s governance structure: public commitments to legal reform and diaspora engagement coexist with opaque security practices and discretionary arrests by intelligence bodies. This divergence between legislative signaling and on-the-ground enforcement continues to erode confidence among Iranians abroad and raises serious questions about inter-agency accountability, rule-of-law consistency, and the credibility of stated reforms.