A British-Iranian mum who was detained as she tried to fly home to the UK has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker and mum-of-one, saw her sentence finalised this weekend – to the devastation of her British husband, Richard.
Nazanin, 38, was on her way back to the UK after visiting her parents in Iran, in April 2016, when she was stopped at passport control.
She was detained and told there was a problem with the document, before the passport – and that of her daughter, Gabriela – was confiscated.
Gabriela, who is a British citizen, was stopped from returning home to her father. She has since been placed in the care of her grandparents, in Iran.
Nazanin, meanwhile – who worked with Thomson Reuters – was arrested on ‘security charges’ and accused of ‘plotting to topple the Iranian regime’.
Desperate for the safe return of his wife, Richard has since launched a campaign and petition for her release.
With little help from government agencies, Nazanin’s physical and emotional health are said to have majorly declined – particularly with her placement in solitary confinement.
In a recent update to his plight, Richard revealed that Nazanin has even gone on hunger-strike in protest of her innocence; she has also had suicidal thoughts.
Richard held a vigil last week in the run-up to the courts’ final decision on Nazanin’s future, but sadly, the five-year sentence has now been finalised.
Commenting on his campaign for Nazanin’s safe return, a heartbroken Richard appealed: “I ask for your help in bringing Nazanin and Gabriela home, because framing the innocent serves no one, even those perpetrating it – it risks undermining the values Iran and Islam are proudest of.”
