Mother pressured to spy for Iranians
British charity worker being denied health care
WORLD: Iranian interrogators tried to pressure jailed mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to spy on Britain in exchange for freedom, her husband claimed as his wife yesterday started a hunger strike.
The British-Iranian and another detainee started protesting yesterday over a lack of access to medical care.
IRANIAN INTERROGATORS tried to pressure jailed mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to spy on Britain in exchange for freedom, her husband claimed as his wife yesterday started a hunger strike.
The British-Iranian and another detainee started protesting yesterday morning over a lack of access to proper medical care, Richard Ratcliffe told a press conference in London.
He also revealed the 40-yearold charity worker was striking over an attempt by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps interrogators to pressure her to turn informant for Iran in late December.
Mr Ratcliffe, who met with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt yesterday afternoon, said the tactic, deployed at around her 1,000th day in jail, meant they were in a “scary place”.
It comes as Mr Hunt summoned the Iranian ambassador to the UK to the Foreign Office to discuss the “deeply concerning deterioration” in her health.
Mr Hunt yesterday tweeted that the ongoing detention was “totally unacceptable” and a “fundamental breach of human rights”.
Speaking at the press conference, Mr Ratcliffe said: “What really pushed her over the edge was they tried to make her become a spy for Iran against the UK. She was told it would be safer for her and safer for her family afterwards if she agreed to do this. She was told to think about it and that they would return. She has been terrified ever since.”
Specifically, they wanted her to spy on the Department for Interstead, national Development and London-based organisation Small Media, he said.
After the conference, Mr Ratcliffe said: “I think that was pretty ominous, she was terrified of the conversation. She was hugely worried as to what was going to happen to her and her family and whether she was going to be taken back to solitary. We are in a scary place.”
He also said his wife, of Hamp-
I think that was pretty ominous, she was terrified
Husband Richard Ratcliffe speaking at a press conference in London.
north-west London, has been refused a mammogram after a doctor found new lumps in her breasts last month. The doctor ordered that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has a family history of breast cancer and had previous lumps ruled as benign, should be examined but this was subsequently denied, he added.
“Clearly the worry of what those lumps mean has been preying on her mind,” he said.
On the agenda for the meeting with Mr Hunt was whether she can be granted diplomatic protection, a legal status which is hoped will give Britain greater access to her.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation charity, was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport on April 3, 2016, and sentenced to five years in jail. Iran has accused her of spying, which she vehemently denies.
The human rights charity, Redress, has renewed calls for the Government to end Ms ZaghariRatcliffe’s “appalling” treatment by taking “immediate steps to secure her release”, including granting her diplomatic protection. Redress argues her release should be secured by Britain granting her diplomatic protection, a process under international law that states can enact to obtain repatriation for an illegal act against one of their nationals.