Authorities agree to treatment outside prison; Nazanin Zaghari and Narges Mohammadi end hunger strike
Richard Ratcliffe announced that his wife Nazanin Zaghari and Narges Mohammadi also ended their hunger strike after judicial authorities agreed to treat the two political prisoners outside prison.
According to AFP, Richard Ratcliffe said in a statement: "After three days, the two political prisoners ended their hunger strike and on Wednesday evening, Gabriella, Nazanin's daughter, as well as her mother, were able to visit her in prison."
Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of British-Iranian prisoner Nazanin Zaghari, announced in an interview with Reuters on Monday that his wife had announced by phone that she and Narges Mohammadi had begun a three-day hunger strike. The two prisoners had begun the three-day hunger strike to protest the lack of access to a specialist doctor outside the prison and the lack of necessary specialized treatment.
Following the publication of news of Ms. Zaghari's hunger strike, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt summoned Iran's ambassador to London, Hamid Baeidinejad.
He wrote on Twitter that he had told the Iranian ambassador that Nazanin Zaghari's imprisonment under these conditions was unacceptable and that the prisoner's access to medical services was one of her fundamental rights.
Narges Mohammadi has been sentenced to 16 years in prison and Nazanin Zaghari to 5 years. Both prisoners need medical care, but security and judicial authorities do not allow them to receive treatment outside of prison.
Previously, Nazanin Zaghari's husband had explained that lumps had recently been found in Nazanin Zaghari's breast, and a correct diagnosis would require a repeat mammogram and MRI, but prison officials would not allow it.
Last month, Mohammad Jafari, Narges Mohammadi's lawyer, said that his client's physical condition, due to a pulmonary embolism and the growth of a tumor in her esophagus, has created serious conditions for her and is very worrying.
The lawyer stated that Ms. Mohammadi's medical condition is in a state of alert, but announced that her client is still in the women's ward of Evin Prison, and her request for a forensic medical commission, leave, referral to a specialized hospital, and discussion of her conditional release have not yet been approved.
Human rights activists and officials in some countries have repeatedly protested the imprisonment of Narges Mohammadi and Nazanin Zaghari and called for their release.
Source: Voice of America
