A heartbreaking photo shows the moment Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe said goodbye to her four-year-old daughter after finding out that she would be going back to prison.
The British mother can be seen hugging little Gabriella, who burst into tears when she was told her mother had failed to win an extension to her temporary release.
Nazanin was jailed for five years in Iran for supposed espionage and was set to learn today if authorities would be lengthening her three days of freedom.
However, after a ‘day of mixed messages’, the request for an extension was not granted.
She was told she must return to prison by sunset, her husband Richard Ratcliffe said.
Their daughter Gabriella cried when she realised her mother was leaving.
Heartbreaking: Nazanin saying goodbye to her young daughter Gabriella after learning she will return to prison
Nazanin was released Thursday on a three-day furlough (pictured with her beaming daughter)
Mr Ratcliffe said: ‘Nazanin waited for Gabriella to wake up before saying goodbye, and left her family home to return to Evin prison.’
He added: ‘She 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.’
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 40, was staying in the Iranian countryside with her parents and her daughter, Gabriella, four, was detained in April 2016 at Tehran airport after visiting her family.
In a statement, Mr Ratcliffe said his wife was told by the Iranian authorities that she would have to return to the prison by sunset.
‘After discussion with her family in Iran, Nazanin decided that she would go into prison. She did not want to be dragged out of the house in front of her baby, but would walk into prison with her head held high.’
His statement added: ‘She wanted to say goodbye to Gabriella calmly and left her in the care of her mother. Her father has taken Nazanin back to prison.’
The family had hoped to learn on Saturday whether her leave – which is often granted to prisoners in Iran – would be prolonged, but after a day of ‘mixed messages’, it was denied.
Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK’s Director, said: ‘This is a crushing disappointment.
‘There were real hopes that not only would her three-day furlough be extended, but that her permanent and unconditional release was also just around the corner.
‘We shouldn’t lose sight of what Nazanin has had to endure – nearly two-and-a-half years behind bars, eight gruelling months of solitary confinement without a lawyer, a deeply unfair trial, and also being subjected to a string of unfounded accusations from the Iranian authorities.
‘Nazanin is a prisoner of conscience who should never have been jailed in the first place.
Nazanin’s husband Richard Ratcliffe said she is not home until ‘she is really home’
‘Anything the UK Government can now do to speed up the process of permanently freeing Nazanin, should be done.
‘The sooner that Nazanin is able to travel back to the UK with her young daughter Gabriella, the better.’
Prior to the decision to send Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe back to prison her husband said: ‘The agony goes on – it’s going to be a very worrying day,’
‘If she doesn’t get an extension, it will be a blow to all of us, but most of all to her: to be back in jail after tasting freedom for just three days would be very hard.’
Mr Ratcliffe, from North London, said that before learning that there would be no decision over the possible extension at the weekend, the family was able to enjoy an outing to a coffee shop yesterday- where he was able to talk to them via Skype.
He has applied for an Iranian visa, and was hoping if charity worker Nazanin gets the extension and his request is granted, he will try to visit her.
But he added: ‘Until Nazanin is really home, she’s not home.’
He and the family’s lawyer had not expected her to be granted even a three-day spell of freedom after being refused earlier requests, ‘and it would be naïve to suggest that this is the beginning of the end, or to assume that from now on, it’s going to be plain sailing. It’s been a huge process just to get this far.’
Mr Ratcliffe said the Iranian authorities had become more amenable since Britain’s decision to go through with a deal to lift sanctions in return for Iran curbing its nuclear weapons programme.
Last year, then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was forced to apologise after falsely stating Nazanin had been in Iran to train local journalists – a claim which may still cause years to be added to her sentence.
Mr Ratcliffe could not say whether Mr Johnson’s resignation in July had made a difference, but added: ‘It’s very clear [his successor] Jeremy Hunt really cares.’
Mr Hunt is considering whether to grant official diplomatic protection to Nazanin, who has dual British-Iranian nationality, to increase the pressure on the Iranians.
Mr Ratcliffe said this had to be carefully considered, though, as rather than help, it might hinder her chances of permanent freedom.
There are thought to be at least a dozen dual British-Iranian nationals in detention, most of whose cases have not been publicised at the request of their families.