Prison Officials Refuse to Allow Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Diagnostic Mammogram for Cancer Detection

British newspaper Mirror has reported that prison authorities have refused to send Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to a hospital for follow-up examinations after cancerous cells were found in her breast.

The newspaper quoted statements from Richard Ratcliffe, Nazanin’s husband, who said that delays in diagnosing Nazanin’s illness, as she marks her thousandth day in prison, are extremely concerning for the couple and other family members.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband explained that masses were recently discovered in her breast, and proper diagnosis requires a repeat mammogram and MRI scan, but prison officials are refusing to grant permission.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic authorities have also refused to issue a travel visa to Iran for Richard Ratcliffe.

This comes as British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt recently accused the Islamic Republic of taking Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual British-Iranian citizen, hostage for “diplomatic purposes.”

On Friday, December 28, Jeremy Hunt, in an interview with BBC Radio 4, referring to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s fortieth birthday, said: “She has been imprisoned for more than half of her daughter’s life. This is something terrible and unjust.”

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained at the airport in April 2016 when she intended to leave Iran. She was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of participation in “soft overthrow.”

Last week, Gholam-Hossein Esmaili, head of Tehran’s judiciary, said about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s new case: “Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s new case is still open and it is unclear whether she will be convicted, acquitted, or what sentence she will receive if convicted.”

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps accused Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe of training journalism for foreign media outlets, but she denied the charges, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation also formally stated that she was a simple employee in the organization’s administrative section.

Previously, some media outlets reported that Britain intended to secure Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release in exchange for paying its debts to Iran, which relate to the 1970s and the Chieftain tank purchase contract. The implementation of this contract was halted after the revolution following the “occupation of the U.S. embassy,” and later the Hague court ruled that Britain should pay Iran 500 million dollars.

Both Iran and Britain have denied reports about any link between the payment of this money and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release, but last year the British newspaper Telegraph reported that London intended to demonstrate its “good will” to Tehran by making this payment.

This dual national prisoner has suffered repeated nervous attacks in Evin Prison. The serious deterioration in Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s health prompted a statement from Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty International’s Britain section, who said “what the Islamic Republic authorities are doing to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is deeply inhumane.”

Western analysts say the Islamic Republic uses dual nationals as hostages to extract money and concessions from Western governments.

Source: Voice of America