British housewife 'devastated' after being sentenced to 20 years in Iran prison for criticising Supreme Leader on Facebook

Iranian authorities claim Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht criticised Ayatollah Khomeini on Facebook

The 47-year-old part-time student was arrested two weeks into her Iranian holiday

Ms Nobakht holds dual Iranian and British nationality

Her husband spent two months traveling in Iran trying to track down his wife after she failed to return home



Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht was arrested during a three-week holiday to Iran after she was alleged to have made critical comments about the regime on her Facebook page

A British woman faces spending the next 20 years of her life in an Iranian prison cell after criticising the country's former Supreme Leader on the internet.



Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht from Stockport, Greater Manchester was visiting friends in Iran when she posted comments on Facebook which were deemed critical by the regime.



Ms Nobakht was arrested in the south western city of Shiraz in October for allegedly making comments online about the former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.



The 47-year-old part-time student holds dual British and Iranian citizenship and has been living in England with her husband for more than six years.

However, after her arrest, Ms Nobakht was accused of putting the middle eastern country's security at risk and for gathering crowds.

It is understood that two weeks into her trip, Ms Nobakht flew to Shiraz from Tehran when she was arrested by Iranian security forces.



Ms Nobakht traveled to Iran for a three-week holiday in October and the first her husband Daryoush Taghipoor knew of her arrest was when she failed to return to Manchester Airport.



Mr Taghipoor flew to Iran and spent more than eight weeks in Iran searching hospitals, mortuaries and police stations trying to track down his missing wife.



Eventually he was told that his wife had been arrested and was being detained over comments she had made on Facebook.



Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht (left) who was arrested pictured alongside her husband Daryoush Taghipoor

Ms Nobakht is being held at the high security Evin Prison in Tehran

A source close to the family told The Times: ''She had flew into Shiraz airport to visit a friend when she was arrested. They took her passport and her computer and she was taken to Evin prison where she has been ever since. She told them she was a student but they didn’t believe her.



'When her husband went to the airport to meet her and she didn’t arrive he called friends and family in Iran but nobody knew where she was. He decided to go to Iran to search for her and it took two months.



'He visited mortuaries and hospitals and police stations and eventually he was told she was in prison for not being respectful of Iran. He was allowed to visit her for 10 minutes and has not seen her since. They can speak on the phone but are not able to say much.'

Now Mr Taghipoor is afraid to return to Iran in case he is jailed by the regime.

