Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman who was taken back to a Tehran jail on Sunday after spending three days on temporary release, has been taken to a prison clinic after falling unconscious.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 40, had a panic attack for a second consecutive day on Wednesday, collapsed in prison and was unconscious, according to a former political prisoner and her family. She has been serving a five-year sentence for spying, in a high-profile case that has overshadowed British-Iranian relations for nearly two years since she was arrested in April 2016.

Reyhaneh Tabatabie, an Iranian journalist who previously spent some time with her in the women’s ward at Evin prison, tweeted on Wednesday morning that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had fainted before being taken to hospital. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, Richard, confirmed that she had a panic attack on Wednesday – the second time this week – but he said he did not know if she had since been taken to hospital.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe release suggests Iran is softening stance Read more

“[A cellmate] called the family this morning that she passed out, and she had a panic attack, and that was the second time – we knew she had one yesterday. Nazanin called her family this morning to say she had one, she passed out and was taken to clinic,” Richard Ratcliffe told the Guardian.

“On Tuesday, she had a panic attack and numb legs, she had been complaining about rashes and strong headaches, a very low blood pressure, and I think she warned the prison that she was feeling terrible.

“We spoke yesterday [Tuesday] morning and she was very low on the phone, and said about how everyone was crying, and prison guards crying and [the] head of prison saying that ‘I expected you to be out’, she had the panic attack, she’d been taken down to the clinic yesterday, she had been referred to see her psychiatrist.

“So she called the family today to say: ‘Can you please arrange the appointment with my psychiatrist outside the prison’ – that was happening, then they got a phone call about an hour and half ago from [her cellmate] saying she’s passed out again and was taken down to prison clinic, and she needs to be in hospital – that’s the last I heard.”

Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) All our thoughts and prayers with Nazanin and her family today. Unbearable suffering to be apart from daughter with her hopes raised then dashed. We must redouble efforts to find a way to get her home #FreeNazanin

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was temporarily released on Thursday after more than two years in prison, taking her and her family by surprise. She returned to Evin prison on Sunday evening to continue her sentence.

Kate Allen, the Amnesty International UK director, called on the UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, to accelerate efforts for Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release. “What the Iranian authorities are doing to Nazanin is exceptionally cruel,” she said.

“Not only have they deprived her of her due process rights by locking her up for months in solitary confinement without access to a lawyer, and subjecting her to a grossly unfair trial, but they’ve torn her away yet again from her daughter’s arms, subjecting them both to severe mental anguish and trauma.

“Nazanin must immediately be given access to the specialised medical care she needs. Beyond that, she is a prisoner of conscience who has been unjustly jailed and must be released immediately and unconditionally.

“After the crushing disappointment of being sent back to prison following her furlough release, it’s now all the more imperative that Jeremy Hunt and fellow ministers accelerate all efforts to secure Nazanin’s release.”

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested as she and her daughter were about to board a flight back to the UK after a visit to her family in Iran. She was accused of attempting to orchestrate a “soft overthrow” of the Islamic Republic, spying and running “a BBC Persian online journalism course, which was aimed at recruiting and training people to spread propaganda against Iran”. She denies the allegations.