Free me from Iranian prison for the sake of my daughter
Iran jail Brit speaks for first time since Boris ‘spy’ blunder
JAILED British mum Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is “suicidal” and has begged Iran to free her to be with her daughter, three.
THE British mum jailed in Iran has become “suicidal” as she faces more time behind bars following a blunder by Boris Johnson.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is suffering advanced depression and insomnia with the trauma of separation from her threeyear-old daughter, campaigners said.
The 38- year- old released her first statement since the Foreign Secretary’s gaffe risked doubling her five-year term.
She said: “I feel like I don’t have the capacity to do this any more. It’s been so long they’ve been pressuring me, and then all this these past two weeks. “I do not have the strength.” Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 38, from West Hampstead, North-West London, was jailed on spying charges after being held at Tehran airport in April 2016.
She was visiting her family with daughter Gabriella, who is now living in the country with her grandparents after her passport was confiscated. Nazanin’s case reached a new crisis when Johnson told a parliamentary committee earlier this month she had been “training journalists” in the hardline country.
He eventually admitted he had made a mistake but Iranian state TV said his comments proved she was a spy.
The false claims were causing her anguish, she said in the statement from Tehran’s Evin jail, released yesterday by the Free Nazanin Campaign.
She added: “I’ve really been under pressure this week. It’s torture to keep hearing these lies on TV.
“People tell me here it’s all about politics. But I don’t care about the politics.
“Surely I can be released on humanitarian grounds... for my baby and for me? I cannot wait for this turmoil to end. It keeps me on the edge all the time.
“I don’t want to be in the news. I just want to be a normal person again, with a normal life with my child. I have been waiting for so long. All this time, away from my baby, and for what?”
She has panic attacks in confined spaces and in darkness, and a campaign spokesman said the mum is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The spokesman added: “She had previously been on hunger strike and had recently been considering it again.”
Lumps that had been feared to signal breast cancer in Nazanin were not cancerous, the campaign revealed. But her MP Tulip Siddiq, who is fighting for her release, told the Daily Mirror: “This Thursday she will have spent her 600th day in unlawful imprisonment. I’m delighted that she is clear of cancer, but still dreadfully worried over her depression and general wellbeing.
“The humanitarian urgency of this case demands that it does not fall off the Government’s agenda.”
Husband Richard Ratcliffe has suggested that Britain honouring a £ 450million debt to Iran could help secure his wife’s freedom.
Tehran’s envoy to London claimed at the weekend that Britain will repay the money “in the coming days”.
However, the Treasury said that the money could not be paid because of sanctions on Iran. Mr Johnson is set to visit Iran in the coming weeks.
NOW we know the details of Brit Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s physical and mental suffering after being wrongly jailed in Iran, bungling Boris Johnson should hang his head in shame for adding to her anguish.
We appeal to her to stay strong and take hope from the brilliant campaigning of husband Richard, plus a groundswell of public support here in Britain. One day, she will be free and reunited with daughter Gabriella and the Foreign Secretary is finally fighting her case – if only to save his own worthless skin.
But to read of her “suicidal” thoughts, the awful depression and insomnia, is heartbreaking. It’s why the threat of another five years, issued by Iranian militants in the wake of Johnson’s gaffe comments, is unforgivable.
Nazanin’s place is at home, not in jail. She’s a pawn in a political game, which is why we’re supporting the struggle for her freedom.