Jailed British mother thinks she has virus

The family of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian mother jailed in Iran, are appealing for her to be granted temporary release from prison after she told them she feared she had contracted the coronavirus.

The disease is spreading out of control in Iran, which jailed Zaghari-Ratcliffe in 2016 for spying, a charge she denies. The regime has denied that the virus has spread through the prison system, but her family say she has not been tested for it even though she has come down with a fever, body pains and a severe sore throat.

Richard Ratcliffe, her husband, said that her father, who lives in Tehran, and whom she was visiting with their young daughter when she was arrested, had visited the authorities yesterday to ask for a temporary release given the present conditions in Iran.The authorities gave no response.

Mr Ratcliffe also called on the British embassy to demand that she be tested and treated, with test results shared with them.

In a phone call from Evin prison in Tehran on Sunday, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe said: ‘‘For a long time this has not felt like a normal cold. These symptoms have lasted almost a week. I know I need to get medicine to get better.’’ Iran has suffered more deaths from the disease than any other country outside China, with the toll increasing by 11 to 54 yesterday and the total number of cases at 978, a rise of almost 400 from Sunday. However, independent health experts believe that is a wild underestimate. The disease has spread rapidly and has already been exported to countries across the region, including Qatar.