Ghazaleh Sharmahd: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s Freedom Shows My Father Can Also Be Released Through Government Pressure

Ghazaleh Sharmahd, daughter of Jamshid Sharmahd, says her father was finally able to have a brief phone call with his family after seven months.

Ghazaleh Sharmahd spoke with the Persian section of Voice of America on Wednesday, the third of Farvardin, noting that her father has been in solitary confinement for over a year and a half. She said: “For over a year, I haven’t been able to speak with my father. Today was his birthday and after seven months he called my mother. They told him that Ghazaleh is very worried about you and asked him to contact her as well, but they didn’t allow him to call me.”

Jamshid Sharmahd’s daughter added: “In that call too, as always, they didn’t allow him to say anything about his condition. He didn’t even know that Mr. Aghasi, his lawyer, has requested contact and visits with him multiple times.”

Ghazaleh Sharmahd, referring to the brevity of the call, said that “the only thing my father could say was that his health condition has worsened—his blood pressure and diabetes have gotten worse… and that solitary confinement has had severe psychological and physical effects on him.”

Ghazaleh Sharmahd continued: “He wasn’t allowed to talk about his case and said if you ask such questions, I’ll be forced to hang up.”

Ms. Sharmahd, referring to the brevity and limitations of this call, said: “The fact that after seven months we were able to hear his voice and are satisfied with this call shows how bad the situation is. The fact that we’re satisfied that after seven months, just once and for only a few minutes, we could hear our father’s voice and know that he’s still alive.”

When asked whether, considering a possible nuclear agreement with Iran, she hopes her father will also be released, she said: “Yes, all my hope is in this—we now have a chance that we didn’t have in the past year and a half. For a year and a half we’ve been trying to see what the Islamic Republic wants and how my father could be released, and now it’s clear what they want.”

Ghazaleh Sharmahd, referring to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s freedom, said: “When governments like Britain want to do something, how straightforward and simple it is for them. Richard Ratcliffe campaigned for six years for his wife, Nazanin, and it turned out Britain didn’t want to do anything for six years, but the moment he said I want to free her, within two days they were released and he returned with his wife and child.”

Continuing to point to the role and influence of governments, she said: “This means if they want to, 100 percent, my father and many others can be freed in the process. What matters is that they want to. All our efforts currently, with letters we send to the German Foreign Ministry and video messages we send to the U.S. State Department, is to pressure these governments so they’re forced to want to. As long as families don’t pressure them and give up, it’s clear they won’t do anything because it’s much easier for them if everyone remains silent and they can continue their work.”

Jamshid Sharmahd is a political activist and media manager with dual German and Iranian citizenship. Reports indicate he was abducted from the United Arab Emirates and transferred to Iran. His first court hearing in Iran was held last winter. He faces charges of “corruption on earth.”

Source: Voice of America