Family: Aid worker jailed in Iran has caught virus
The family of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman held in prison in Iran, have said she is believed to have coronavirus.
The Free Nazanin Campaign said she has symptoms but staff at Tehran’s Evin prison have refused to test her.
At least 210 people are thought to have died of coronavirus in Iran, though the official death toll stands at 34. One inmate at the prison is believed to be among the dead.
In a statement issued via the campaign, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe said: “I am not good. I feel very bad in fact. It is a strange cold. Not like usual. This is different. I am just as bad as I was.
“I often get better after three days. But with this there is no improvement.
“I have difficulty breathing and pain in my muscles, and fatigue. And I am just very, very tired. I have a real tiredness, and a heavy head. I am too tired to do anything.
“I know I need to get medicine to get better. This does not go magically.”
Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, has called on the UK Government to put pressure on Iran to test her for coronavirus and give her treatment.
Last night The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) called on the Iranian Government to “immediately allow” health officials into the prison.
An FCO spokesman said: “We are urgently seeking information from the Iranian authorities on reports that coronavirus is spreading in Evin prison, including to British-Iranian dual nationals.
“We call on the Iranian Government to immediately allow health professionals into Evin prison to assess the situation of British-Iranian dual nationals there.”
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 41, was jailed for five years over allegations, which she denies, of plotting to overthrow the Tehran Government.