Call on Iran to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been imprisoned in Iran for nearly two years on bogus charges. She hasn’t committed any crime.

Nazanin has been told that she could be charged again and face another trial imminently, which may result in an even longer prison sentence.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a 39-year-old British-Iranian woman, who ordinarily lives with her husband and young daughter in London.  She works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a UK-based media charity. This has been used against her as evidence of ‘membership of an illegal group’, the charge that Nazanin was found guilty of at an unfair trial which saw her sentenced to five years in prison

She was arrested on 3 April 2016 at a Tehran airport, when she was about to board a plane home to the UK with her then one-year-old daughter, Gabriella. They had been on holiday in Iran visiting Nazanin’s parents – a trip Nazanin had made many times before, without incident.

At the airport, they were stopped by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Nazanin was taken into custody, without being told why, and Gabriella was given to her grandparents, who had accompanied them to the airport. Gabriella’s UK passport was confiscated at the airport (she does not have an Iranian passport), though it has since been returned.

When Nazanin was first detained, she wasn’t told why. She was put in solitary confinement. She was held in solitary for 45 days, and could not speak to her family or a lawyer. Her family were not told the reasons for her imprisonment.

Nazanin did not have a fair trial. She was only allowed access to a lawyer three days before her trial. In September 2016, Nazanin was sentenced to five years in prison for ‘membership of an illegal group’.

Nazanin’s physical and mental health is suffering. She suffers from severe arm, neck and back pain as a result of her prison conditions, and her hair is falling out. Nazanin’s husband has most recently said that she is worried about lumps on her breast.

Her family say that Nazanin has been extremely distressed and depressed during her imprisonment and separation from Gabriella. Last November, Nazanin wrote a suicidal letter to her family. A year has passed and her mental health has continued to decline.

The Iranian authorities have a track record of not allowing prisoners the healthcare they need – especially for people imprisoned on political charges – and this is sadly the case for Nazanin too.

◊ Amnesty International UK asks to take action. We (FDM mag.) support their work.

◊ Help get Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe home.

◊ Call on Iran to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

# More information on website Amnesty International UK

free prisoner of conscience: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
fleursdumal.nl magazine

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