The husband of jailed British mum Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has spoken for the first time of her ‘torture’ in an Iranian jail as he presents her case to the United Nations for investigation.
Richard Ratcliffe has relaunched his fight for her freedom by submitting her story to the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Torture citing her conditions of solitary confinement, the psychological pressures suffered during incarceration and her continuing court battles while she’s used by the Iranians as a diplomatic ‘tool’.
He told MailOnline: ‘I think we have passed the threshold where Nazanin’s treatment is torture. These psychological games remain ongoing.
‘I’ve asked the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture to follow up on Nazanin’s case and to find a way to bring her home.
Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of jailed British mum Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (pictured together), has spoken for the first time of her ‘torture’ in an Iranian jail
‘We were told at the beginning of 2018 that she could soon be released on furlough (temporary release) in time for Iranian Independence Day last Sunday (typically a day when prisoners are released in Iran).
‘Last week we were told separately that her case was closed by the Judiciary, and her full release is now in the hands of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There is no release to date.’
Londoner and Iranian dual national Nazanin – mother of three-year-old Gabriella – has been held in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran since early 2016 over allegations, fiercely denied, of plotting to overthrow the Iranian regime.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson sparked a furore last year when he told Parliament that she’d been in the country teaching journalists when she was arrested, before later admitting that she was in fact in the secretive state visiting relatives, which in turn risked the doubling of her five-year sentence on fresh plotting charges.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (pictured with her daughter) has been held in Tehran’s Evin prison since early 2016
Richard Ratcliffe has relaunched his fight for her freedom by submitting his wife’s story to the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Torture
Richard says her psychological abuse levels now ‘meet the UN criteria for torture’, particularly given her vulnerability as a mother of a young child.
While the ‘co-ordinated interaction’ of Iranian state agencies – from interrogations, her detention conditions, new court cases, state TV ‘false’ reports and visitation rights – all ‘maximise psychological pressure’.
He continued: ‘Nazanin is held as a bargaining chip in ongoing political battles that have nothing to do with us.
‘On the Judiciary database, Nazanin’s case is still marked as ‘eligible for release.”
Nazanin has compared her case to when the US embassy in Tehran was stormed by Islamic revolutionaries in 1980 and Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini asked for the women hostages to be released while the men were kept for 444 days, saying: ‘It is now nearly 700 days and you have kept my baby and me away from each other, and away from my husband. How is that acceptable?’
Londoner and Iranian dual national Nazanin has been held in the notorious Evin prison (pictured) in Tehran since early 2016
Richard told MailOnline: ‘I think we have passed the threshold where Nazanin’s treatment is torture. These psychological games remain ongoing.
Nazanin’s stress was exacerbated when her daughter Gabriella – who stays in Tehran with her grandmother and visits her mother twice weekly – was hospitalised with the flu for two days at the end of last month. She has since fully recovered.
Her psychiatrist has recommended increased visits and upped her medication following her diagnosis last year of post-traumatic stress disorder when she was said to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Meanwhile her phone calls, food rations and even psychiatrist appointments have been restricted and an Iranian government delegation were recently refused access to visit.
The mother of three-year-old Gabriella – has been held in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran since early 2016 over allegations, fiercely denied, of plotting to overthrow the Iranian regime
Richard says her psychological abuse levels now ‘meet the UN criteria for torture’, particularly given her vulnerability as a mother of a young child
Two of her cellmates, Golrokh Iraee and Atena Daemi, have been on hunger strike since February 3 in protest at the transfer of another two women that they were all being held with.
Richard added: ‘At Christmas it felt we were so close to a release. That is what we were told to look out for on December 28. That is what the computer said. It’s what it still says now.
‘Now she’s eligible for release. Not just a holiday from prison, but it’s time to come home. That is why we’ve resumed campaigning.’