Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman being held in Tehran, was chained to a bed for days while being detained on a psychiatric ward, her husband has said.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was transferred back to Evin prison on Saturday after spending six days in effective solitary confinement in Imam Khomeini hospital, according to Richard Ratcliffe. He said he was able to speak to his wife on Sunday, when she informed him about the move and said she had finally been allowed to see her mother and young daughter the same day.

She described the six-day ordeal to her husband as “proper torture” during a conversation he subsequently relayed to reporters. “I am all right – broken, but I survived. They did all they could to me – handcuffs, ankle cuffs, in a private room 2m x 3m, with thick curtains, and the door closed all the time. I wasn’t allowed to leave the room, as I was chained to the bed.”

Timeline Imprisonment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran Show Hide Arrest in Tehran Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is arrested at Imam Khomeini airport as she is trying to return to Britain after a holiday visiting family with her daughter, Gabriella. Release campaign begins Her husband, Richard Radcliffe, delivers a letter to David Cameron in 10 Downing Street, demanding the government do more for her release. Sentenced She is sentenced to five years in jail. Her husband says the exact charges are still being kept a secret. Hunger strike Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's health deteriorates after she spends several days on hunger strike in protest at her imprisonment. Appeal fails Iran’s supreme court upholds her conviction. Boris Johnson intervenes Boris Johnson, then Foreign Secretary, tells a parliamentary select committee "When we look at what [she] was doing, she was simply teaching people journalism". Four days after his comments, Zaghari-Ratcliffe is returned to court, where his statement is cited in evidence against her. Her employers, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, deny that she has ever trained journalists, and her family maintain she was in Iran on holiday. Johnson is eventually forced to apologise for the "distress and anguish" his comments cause the family. Health concerns Her husband reveals that Zaghari-Ratcliffe has fears for her health after lumps had been found in her breasts that required an ultrasound scan, and that she was now “on the verge of a nervous breakdown”. Hunt meets husband New Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt meets with Richard Ratcliffe, and pledges "We will do everything we can to bring her home." Temporary release She is granted a temporary three-day release from prison. Hunger strike Zaghari-Ratcliffe is on hunger strike again, in protest at the withdrawal of her medical care. Diplomatic protection The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, takes the unusual step of granting her diplomatic protection – a move that raises her case from a consular matter to the level of a dispute between the two states. Travel warning The UK upgrades its travel advice to British-Iranian dual nationals, for the first time advising against all travel to Iran. The advice also urges Iranian nationals living in the UK to exercise caution if they decide to travel to Iran. Hunger strike in London Richard Ratcliffe joins his wife in a new hunger strike campaign. He fasts outside the Iranian embassy in London as she begins a third hunger strike protest in prison. Hunger strike ends Zaghari-Ratcliffe ends her hunger strike by eating some breakfast. Her husband also ends his strike outside the embassy.

Moved to mental health ward According to her husband, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was moved from Evin prison to the mental ward of Imam Khomeini hospital, where Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have prevented relatives from contacting her. Daughter returns to London Zaghari-Ratcliffe's five year old daughter Gabriella, who has lived with her grandparents in Tehran and regularly visited her mother in jail over the last three years, returns to London in order to start school. Temporary release Amid the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, she is temporarily released from prison, but will be required to wear an ankle brace and not move more than 300 metres from her parents’ home. New charges Iranian state media reports that she will appear in court to face new and unspecified charges. In the end, a weekend court appearance on a new charge of waging propaganda against the state that could leave her incarcerated for another 10 years is postponed without warning, leading Zaghari-Ratcliffe to say "People should not underestimate the level of stress. People tell me to calm down. You don’t understand what it is like. Nothing is calm."

She added that the experience had left her struggling. “I am glad I survived. The original order was for 10 days. I managed to survive for six. I think it was an achievement.”

The family had initially been pleased at Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s transfer to the hospital, believing she may be given proper psychiatric treatment, and her doctor recommended that she be allowed to return as an outpatient.

Her husband said the Iranian Revolutionary Guards refused to accept the advice and that she was handcuffed to the bed each day. “On the first night, it was so lonely and claustrophobic,” she told him. “It was unbearable. I panicked and wanted to ask them to take me back.” On Saturday, he said, they relented and she was returned to Evin prison.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport in April 2016 and accused of spying. The Thomson Reuters Foundation employee faced charges of spreading “propaganda against the regime”.

She vehemently denied the allegation, saying she was in Iran to visit her family and her account was backed by her employer, a charity organisation that operates independently of Thomson Reuters and Reuters News. However, she was sentenced to five years in jail in September 2016.

Play Video 6:21 Richard Ratcliffe's determined fight to free wife Nazanin from an Iranian jail – video

Boris Johnson, while serving as foreign secretary, mistakenly said she was “teaching people journalism” in Iran. He later corrected his error, but it was cited as evidence against her.

Johnson’s role in Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s continued incarceration is likely to hang over him until she is released, with Ratcliffe vowing to raise his wife’s case with the new prime minister and the foreign secretary.

Ratcliffe noted that Alan Duncan had referred to his case when he resigned as a Foreign Office minister on Monday in order to avoid the possibility of serving as a minister in a Johnson government. He said he had asked his MP, Tulip Siddiq, to follow up with both Duncan and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Sir Alan Duncan MP (@AlanDuncanMP) I resigned as Foreign Office minister this morning. Here is my letter to the Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/1kpt7rHsF0

“Nazanin has been pushed to breaking point by the human rights abuses that she faced,” Siddiq, a Labour MP, said on Monday. “The nature of her time in hospital was appalling and her testimony dreadful to read. The government seems to have lost any semblance of control over this case.”

She pointed out that the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, risked losing his job this week if, as expected, he loses to Johnson in the Tory leadership contest. Also, his deputy had resigned and Mark Field, the junior minister with responsibility for the Middle East, was suspended over allegations he manhandled a woman during a dinner when she was raising awareness of the climate crisis.

“There is chaos at a time when my constituent needs a competence and determination. For as long as Nazanin remains in jail, we will call for her immediate release,” Siddiq said.

In 2016, a UN working group said it considered Zaghari-Ratcliffe to have been arbitrarily detained.