The British-Iranian charity worker who has been jailed for 1,000 days has now started hunger strike in response to escalating pressure to become a spy for Iran. Her husband Richard revealed in a press conference at the Frontline Club in London, that as of 14 January, Nazanin has officially started a 3-day hunger strike.
Mr Ratcliffe said that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers who visited his wife in prison on 29 December asked her to pass on information about the Department for International Development (DFID) in return for clemency. Richard said,
“What really pushed her over the edge was they tried to make her become a spy for Iran against the UK,”
Hunger strike
After being denied access to medical care, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe initially threatened to go on hunger strike in protest on 7 January. She initially threatened the hunger strike from Tehran’s Evin prison in a joint letter with fellow prisoner, human rights activist Narges Mohammadi. The two women had previously been checked by a specialist doctor at the prison, who issued a written order to transfer them to an emergency medical centre, but because the authorities have prevented their transfer, they will carry out a hunger strike.
In the letter, published by the Tehran-based charity Defenders of Human Rights Centre on 2 January, the women wrote that,
“In protest to this illegal, inhuman and unlawful behaviour, and to express our concerns for our health and survival at this denial of specialist treatment, despite taking daily medicines, we will go on hunger strike from 14.01.2019 to 16.01.2019. We announce that in the event of the authority’s failure to address these concerns and them further endangering our health, we will take further action.”
After their letter was published, prison guards have cancelled their weekly phone calls with their families and reduced the ward’s food rations.
On 14 January Nazanin officially started hunger strike, due to the additional pressure of being asked to spy on behalf of the IRGC.
Nazanin’s story
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport on 3 April 2016 as she attempted to return home to London after a visit to her family for Nowruz, the Persian new year holiday. Her daughter Gabriella’s passport was confiscated at the time and the reason for Nazanin’s arrest was withheld.
After 150 days of detention Nazanin was then sentenced to five years in prison on charges of spying after a short trial where she was barred proper access to legal representation. The sentence was upheld in 2017 and apart from 3 days furlough she was granted in August 2018, has remained in prison ever since.
Response
Monique Villa, head of the Thomson Reuters Foundation and Nazanin’s boss said on 14 January that she’s “sincerely worried” about Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe going on hunger strike to protest. She expressed concern about her declining physical and mental health and said that denying her medical care and investigation of issues such as lumps in her breasts are a form of cruel torture.
“This is a kind of very slow torture,” Ms Villa told the press conference at the Frontline Club.
“She’s innocent. She should be released immediately, and she should have immediate medical access.”