Nazanin’s husband says protest had big impact
British mum Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has ended her hunger strike in an Iranian jail after 15 days.
She had a breakfast of porridge with apple and banana, while her husband Richard also ended his hunger strike outside the Iranian embassy in London.
Richard, who was a student at Edinburgh University, said: “It was getting hard for me but I’m sure it was much harder for her. I’m relieved because I wouldn’t have wanted her to push it much longer.”
Nazanin, 40, was jailed for five years in 2016 on a spying charge which she has always denied.
Richard said she wanted to end the hunger strike on her own terms, adding: “She wanted to make a clear statement that enough was enough but it was important she didn’t take it too far for her health and for Gabriella (their f ive- year- old daughter). When you go on hunger strike, you play with fire.
“It’s a bit early to know what we have achieved. What we were expecting was the Iranian authorities would realise it’s unacceptable to keep holding her.”
His wife had come under “a lot of pressure” from prison guards to break the strike, he said, and she had been feeling nauseous. He added: “It had been a real struggle for her the last few days. For me, I’m more fragile.
“My experience has been sitting on a doorstep, lots of people coming up to me with flowers and cards, so it has been emotionally great, although a physical challenge.”
Richard – who at tended an Edinburgh Fringe show about his wife’s case last year – said he believed the dual protest had raised the profile of his wife’s case, with more than 100 MPs coming to show support.
He said the hunger strike had made the case “a much bigger story” in Iran and had made Iranian diplomats in London “cross”.
Director of Amnesty International UK, Kate Allen, said: “The hunger strike is over but the deep injustice of this case isn’t. Nazanin is still a prisoner of conscience, still unfairly jailed after a sham trial and still being subjected to the torment of separation from her home and family.”
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt granted Nazanin diplomat ic protection in a bid to resolve her case earlier this year.
Conservative MP Andrea Leadsom tweeted: “It is heartbreaking this couple are still apart. UK is doing everything possible to reunite them.”