“I have learnt today from Richard Ratcliffe that his wife and our colleague at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Nazanin Zaghari- Racliffe, has started a hunger strike to protest her innocence. I am particularly concerned by this latest development given her precarious health.
Nazanin received on Friday the visit of her family in Evin’s jail. She had started a hunger strike five days before and at her sight, Nazanin’s mother fainted. She later persuaded Nazanin to eat some cheese. Her daughter Gabriella, 2 years and a half, was present and was traumatised by the whole scene.
Richard had no contact with Nazanin recently and we are therefore not in a position to confirm whether Nazanin has resumed her hunger strike or not.
This development is deeply worrying, as well as the persisting silence of the Foreign Office and the British government on the whole issue.
Seven months after her arrest and two months after her condemnation to five years in jail, without any known charges, Nazanin who is a British-Iranian bi-national has still not received a visit from the British Ambassador or any member of the Embassy in Tehran. What more does the British Government need to act promptly?”
Monique Villa, Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO
