Made in Iran cell, mum’s dolls for waiting daughter
THE little girl beams as she holds a doll made by her mother in prison.
Gabriella is the daughter of the British woman jailed in Iran on spying charges. In fact the child had two dolls – the second one for the daughter of the Foreign Secretary, who visited her family home yesterday.
After he and four-year-old Gabriella exchanged gifts, Jeremy Hunt made an emotional plea for the release of her mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who remains locked up. Having visited their home in Iran, Mr Hunt said: ‘No child should have to go this long without their mother.’
Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, had earlier pleaded for her to be released before Christmas and her 40th birthday.
Mr Hunt called for her to be freed as he left the country, following reports he was denied permission to visit the charity worker. He had also brought Gabriella an art set and a stuffed elephant, while she drew him a picture and gave him the doll to pass to his daughter, also four.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 39, was arrested on her way back from seeing family in 2016. She was accused of spying and sentenced to five years in jail. If she is not released, this will be her third Christmas apart from her daughter.
Mr Ratcliffe told the Mail: ‘The family were really touched to meet Jeremy Hunt and Gabriella was very excited to show me her presents.
‘I really appreciate the fact that Mr Hunt made the effort to go to Tehran with everything else going on, and that he stood up for Nazanin in such a straightforward way.’
During his visit, Mr Hunt met Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to request Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release.
Despite hopes he would meet judiciary officials and representatives from the Revolutionary Guard, who hold most power over the case, it is understood this did not go ahead. Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at Tehran airport as she tried to fly home to London.
She had been introducing her daughter, then 22 months old, to her parents, but was convicted of plotting to overthrow Iran’s Islamic clerical establishment, a charge denied by her family.
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson caused outrage last year when he suggested Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was teaching journalists in the country, which her family said was false. She was temporarily released in August, but later jailed again.
‘Excited to show me her presents’