Nazanin is a British-Iranian mother who has spent nearly four years now in an Iranian prison after being wrongly convicted of spying in 2016. The Iranian authorities have no evidence to support this claim.

Her five-year-old daughter Gabriella is now back home in the UK with her dad – but this news is bittersweet. In Iran, Gabriella was allowed to regularly visit her mum. Now they’ll have to rely on phone calls to stay in touch.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic Nazanin was released on furlough and is currently living at her parents' house in Tehran, confided to the house by a tracking bracelet strapped to her ankle.

Iran must now allow her to finally go home and be reunited with her family.

Call on Iran to free Nazanin.

Who is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe?

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a 40-year-old British-Iranian woman, who ordinarily lives with her husband and young daughter in London.

She works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a UK-based media charity. This has been used against her as evidence that she is ‘membership of an illegal group’: the charge Nazanin was found guilty at an unfair trial and sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Arrested at the airport

Nazanin was arrested on 3 April 2016 at a Tehran airport, about to board a plane home to the UK with her then one-year-old daughter, Gabriella. They had been on holiday in Iran visiting Nazanin’s parents – a trip Nazanin had made many times before, without incident.

At the airport, they were stopped by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Nazanin was taken into custody, without being told why, and Gabriella was given to her grandparents. Gabriella’s UK passport was confiscated (she does not have an Iranian passport), though it has since been returned.

Imprisonment and unfair trial

When Nazanin was first detained, she wasn’t told given any explanation.

She was put in solitary confinement and held there for months, unable to speak to her family or a lawyer. Her family were not told the reasons for her imprisonment either.

Nazanin did not have a fair trial. She was only allowed access to a lawyer three days before her trial.

In September 2016, Nazanin was sentenced to five years in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison for ‘membership of an illegal group’.

We were told that she could face additional charges, which would extend how long she would be in prison for.

Health crisis

Nazanin’s physical and mental health is suffering.

She suffers from severe arm, neck and back pain as a result of her prison conditions, and her hair is falling out. Nazanin’s husband has most recently said that she is worried about lumps on her breast.

Her family say that Nazanin has been extremely distressed and depressed during her imprisonment and separation from Gabriella.

In November 2016, Nazanin wrote a suicidal letter to her family.

Almost four years have passed since she's been away from her daughter and her husband and her mental health has continued to decline.

Nazanin was sent to the psychiatric ward in July where she was kept in chains and isolation for over a week. She has subsequently been denied her medication.

The Iranian authorities have a track record of not allowing prisoners the healthcare they need – especially for people imprisoned on political charges – and this is sadly the case for Nazanin too.

Help us reunite Nazanin with her family and call for her immediate release now.