TreatmentofZaghari-Ratcliffeamountstotorture
8. - The treatment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman serving a five-year jail sentence in Tehran, amounts to torture, her family have claimed in an appeal to the 8N. Richard Ratcliffe, who has resumed campaigning for his wife’s release after promises of an early release or a furlough were unfulfilled, said that a submission had been presented to the 8N special rapporteur on torture. It has outlined why in their view her months of imprisonment over allegations of spying amounted to torture, given ³the conditions of solitary confinement, the psychological pressures in the arbitrary detention and court proceedings, and her use as a tool of pressure in wider diplomatic affairs”. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who had been accused of running ³a BB& Persian online journalism course” and seeking a ³soft overthrow” of the Islamic republic, was arrested in April 0 at a Tehran airport while she and her then -month-old daughter, Gabriella, were about to return to the 8. after a family visit. Iranian judicial authorities have touted the idea of an early release, but the exact status of her case is unclear. /ast year the authorities moved to put her on a new trial for additional charges, based on claims of fresh evidence that appear to include a BB& pay stub and the contents of her personal email. 6he has been told by the deputy prosecutor, her husband said, that her case had left the judiciary and was now in the hand of the Iranian ministry of foreign affairs. Ratcliffe has asked to meet the deputy Iranian foreign minister, who is due to visit /ondon later this month to clarify this claim, which could not be independently verified. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case has become intertwined with Boris -ohnson’s political career since the foreign secretary made an erroneous statement last year, which appeared to complicate her legal battle. -ohnson has since apologized for mistakenly saying that she was training journalists in Iran, when in fact she was on holiday. The British woman, who worked as a project manager for the Thomson Reuters )oundation, sounded frustrated about the uncertainty surrounding her case during a recent phone conversation with her husband. Ratcliffe quoted her as saying ³Even when the 86 embassy was conquered in 0, >former leader@ .homeini asked to release their women, and kept the men for
days. It is now nearly 00 days and you have kept my baby and me away from each other, and away from my husband. +ow is that acceptable in your religion" <ou claim to be a Muslim, but that is not the way a Muslim behaves.”
(The Guardian)