Jailed British-iranian mother in hospital after falling unconscious
NAZANIN ZAGHARI-RATCLIFFE, the British-iranian mother being held in an Iranian prison, was yesterday taken to hospital after suffering multiple panic attacks and falling unconscious.
Richard Ratcliffe, the charity worker’s husband, said his wife had collapsed at Evin prison in Tehran.
She fainted days after bidding goodbye to her daughter and returning to jail on Sunday following an emotional family reunion.
“She had a panic attack and collapsed today, and had one yesterday also, so she was taken to the prison clinic earlier and we were told she might be admitted to hospital,” Mr Ratcliffe told The Daily Telegraph.
He said 40-year-old Mrs Zaghariratcliffe had complained on Tuesday of numb legs, painful headaches and rashes.
“I think it feels like the physical symptoms of crushing disappointment since she went back into prison,” he said.
“Certainly, yesterday the head of the prison was worried enough to come down and see her and ask her how she was and what’s going on. He clearly was very surprised that she’d been brought back into prison and asked her why and what’s happened.”
Tulip Siddiq, MP for the Ratcliffe family’s Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, said: “So sad to hear that my constituent Nazanin has had another panic attack and is now in the prison hospital. How much more can this poor woman take? We need to bring her back home and reunite her with her daughter.”
Mrs Zaghari-ratcliffe was released from prison last Thursday and was staying with family outside the capital during a three-day furlough. Her husband earlier confirmed that her lawyer’s request for an extension was not granted.
Mr Ratcliffe said the prosecutors’ office told his wife she would need to return to the prison “for a few days or a week” to wait for a key signature.
She decided to go back voluntarily with her “head held high” rather than be “dragged out of the house in front of her baby”, he said.
Mrs Zaghari-ratcliffe’s four-year-old daughter, Gabriella, cried when she realised her mother was leaving.
He said: “She [Nazanin] promised Gabriella that the next time she saw her it would be forever, not just for a few days – for proper freedom, not just for furlough.
“And next time they will go back to London to be with daddy.”
Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, said he had spoken to Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, on Friday but that “clearly wasn’t enough”.
Writing on Twitter, Mr Hunt vowed to continue the fight.
Mrs Zaghari-ratcliffe was sentenced to five years in jail after being accused of spying by Tehran.
She denies the allegation and said she was on holiday to allow her daughter to spend time with relatives there.