Letter from Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from Evin: My daughter and I have become pawns in politicians’ hands

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-British dual national citizen, criticized the Islamic Republic’s handling of her case in a letter from Evin. According to Zaghari-Ratcliffe, “politicians” are using her and her daughter as a “tool” to achieve their own goals.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-British dual national citizen serving her sentence in Evin Prison, in an open letter while criticizing the Islamic Republic’s conduct in her case, complained about separation from her child as the “worst torture” and compared her situation to that of Negar Ghodskani.

Negar Ghodskani, who was arrested in 2017 in Australia on charges of violating US sanctions against Iran and was transferred to the United States after two years, was released last week and returned to Iran.

“The worst torture”

In her letter published today, Wednesday, October 2, on the website of the Human Rights Defenders Center, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe wrote, among other things: “Perhaps it is unimaginable for you not to hold your daughter in your arms, but I have been struggling with this for more than three years, and this is the worst torture for me.”

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has a young child, was arrested on April 5, 2016, at Imam Khomeini Airport when she was trying to leave Iran and was taken to prison. The Islamic Republic’s judiciary sentenced her to five years in prison on charges of participating in “soft overthrow.”

In her open letter, dated October 1398 (2019) and signed “Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, mother of Gabriella Gisu Ratcliffe,” Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe wrote: “I am an imprisoned mother of a 5-year-old child who has been deprived of enjoying my country since she was 22 months old.”

The “major difference” between Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ghodskani

This imprisoned dual national citizen then criticized the Islamic Republic’s conduct in her case and, while referring to Negar Ghodskani’s release from American prisons, writes: “But there is a major difference between me and Negar. The American court judge ordered the end of her imprisonment due to her circumstances and separation from her child. Her imprisonment equals her freedom.”

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe continues: “Negar and I are compatriots. She was convicted in a foreign country and I was convicted in my own homeland. Even according to the United Nations, I was sentenced to 5 years in an unfair trial and forced to spend three and a half years so far behind prison bars away from my child despite pleas and tears shed while I am innocent.”

A court in Minnesota in the United States sentenced Negar Ghodskani to 27 months in prison for “violating US sanctions” and involvement in the illegal sale of American technology to the Islamic Republic’s broadcasting service, but the judge counted her detention period as part of her sentence, and Ms. Ghodskani was released last week.

“My country put me up for auction”

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe then, in response to Iran’s Foreign Minister’s remarks about the connection between her release and Britain’s 400 million pound debt to Iran, stating that “my country last week put me up for auction for a substantial amount that is a matter of its own political claims,” writes: “My country beats its chest with the stone of Syrian, Yemeni and Palestinian mothers but turns a blind eye to the sorrow of a mother being separated from her child in her own homeland.”

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, told reporters on the sidelines of the recent UN General Assembly meeting in New York that he was supposed to mediate for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release in exchange for settling London’s 40-year-old debt to Tehran. According to Zarif, former British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond had proposed that Britain pay the debt from the purchase of Chieftain tanks in exchange for Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release. However, Hammond left the Foreign Office in July 2016. According to Zarif, the proposal was for Britain to pay its 400 million pound debt to Iran, and he would in turn make efforts for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release from prison.

London’s 400 million pound debt to Tehran is due to the advance payment for the purchase of Chieftain tanks in 1976, which were not delivered due to Iran’s revolution and change of government. Zarif told reporters that the proposal was even raised when Boris Johnson became British Foreign Secretary, but the matter became moot with the arrival of Jeremy Hunt, the next Foreign Secretary. According to Zarif, Jeremy Hunt considered such an action as giving in to “extortion.”

“A tool in the hands of politicians”

In the conclusion of her letter, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe considers herself and her child “playthings in the hands of politicians inside and outside Iran” who have made them “a tool to achieve their political goals.” Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe wrote: “Perhaps if humanity, morality, and religiosity in the true sense that an Islamic country claims existed in the hearts of politicians, our world would be a better place and the suffering of the mothers of our land would be lighter. Surely I would not remain in the longing to see my daughter on her first day of school…”

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who worked as a Project Director for the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Britain, has been sentenced to five years in prison in Iran on charges of “cooperating with Western intelligence organizations” and is currently serving her third year of imprisonment in Evin Prison. Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, her family, the British government, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation, which is a charitable institution independent of Thomson Reuters and the Reuters News Agency, have described and rejected the charges against her as baseless.

The United States and some European countries accuse the Islamic Republic of using dual national prisoners as “hostages” to achieve their political goals. Jeremy Hunt, Britain’s former Foreign Secretary, accused the Iranian government on December 28 of taking Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe “hostage” to use her for diplomatic pressure on London.

Source: DW