Today, we mark a bleak milestone in the ongoing ordeal of our friend and colleague Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
2,000 days ago, Nazanin was unlawfully and unjustly arrested for a crime she did not commit. Since then, she has suffered beyond comprehension; separated from family, isolated and imprisoned, denied representation or justice, and stripped of her freedom.
As her fate continues to hang in the balance, I have written both to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, urging the British Government to scale up its efforts to free Nazanin. I welcome, too, the cross-party Parliamentary call for the Prime Minister to turn words into action so that an innocent woman no longer bears the burden of a political conflict.
Nazanin’s health is deteriorating and her hope is fading. Meanwhile her family’s trauma continues too, with no resolution in sight.
Nazanin’s punishment for being in the wrong place at the wrong time is inhumane. It rests with the British Government to leave the Iranian authorities in no doubt that they must overturn this gross miscarriage of justice and appalling violation of human rights.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation stands in complete solidarity with Nazanin’s husband Richard, the Free Nazanin Campaign, and all who fight for Nazanin’s immediate release.
Nazanin has already served 2,000 days too many in captivity. She must be freed immediately.
