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Natalie Amiri | |
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| Born | 11 July 1978 Munich, Germany |
| Occupation(s) | TV-journalist and author |
Natalie Amiri is a German-Iranian journalist.
Natalie Amiri was born in Munich in 1978 to a German mother and an Iranian father. Regarding her youth, she said that the family's life was largely spent in her father's carpet business. "I fit the stereotype," she said once: "Iranians are usually carpet dealers or doctors." [1]
Amiri studied Oriental Studies and Islamic Studies at the Otto-Friedrich University in Bamberg. [2] [3] A scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) took her to the universities of Tehran and Damascus.
Until 2019, Natalie Amiri was married. In 2003, the couple had a child, whom she raised alone after their divorce. From 2017 to 2020, she was in a relationship with sports reporter and filmmaker Robert Hunke.
Since 2011, she has represented the correspondents in the ARD studios of the Bayrischer Rundfunk (BR), including in Istanbul, Athens, and Rome. Since 2014, she has hosted the "ARD-Weltspiegel" program for the BR and the BR Europe magazine "Euroblick." [4]
From July 2015 on, Natalie Amiri headed the ARD correspondent office in Tehran. In 2010 a threatening request for cooperation from persons authorized by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance was adressed to her, which she did not adress. During her time as correspondend Amiri reported from Iran on executions, drug use, women fighting for their rights, and Afghan mercenaries sent to Syria by the Iran government.
Since summer 2019, the German Foreign Office had feared that Amiri could be taken as a political hostage in order to use her as a means of pressure on the German government. Because Amiri also holds Iranian citizenship, she would be defenseless against reprisals. In May 2020, she was warned by the German Federal Foreign Office not to enter Iran for security reasons and was therefore forced to resign as head of the Tehran television studio. [3]
In 2021, she traveled to Afghanistan 100 days after the Taliban took power and subsequently published the book “Afghanistan – Undefeated Loser” in March 2022.
Her award-winning films include her ARD documentary "Death off Lampedusa – Europe's Fall from Grace," and the Grimme Award- nominated documentary "Disappeared in Germany."
In 2019, Amiri was nominated for the German Television Award (Deutscher Fernsehpreis) as Best Foreign Correspondent. [5]
Amiri was named two times Journalist of the Year in Germany by medium magazin. [6]
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