Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s Husband Goes on Hunger Strike Outside Iran Embassy; Embassy Entrance Temporarily Blocked
Richard Ratcliffe, husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian citizen imprisoned in Iran, went on a hunger strike outside the Islamic Republic’s embassy in London, coinciding with his wife’s hunger strike in prison.
According to The Guardian, Mr. Ratcliffe began his hunger strike on Sunday, June 16, announcing it on his daughter’s birthday, saying he would continue the strike as long as possible to achieve results in efforts to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe after three years in prison and to enable her and their daughter to return to Britain.
Gabriella, their five-year-old daughter, is unable to leave Iran and return to Britain.
Mr. Ratcliffe had announced on Saturday that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe began her hunger strike on the same day as their daughter’s fifth birthday. According to him, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe “has informed Iran’s judiciary of her renewed hunger strike in protest against her unjust detention.”
Richard Ratcliffe began his hunger strike outside Iran’s embassy in London while holding photographs of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and their daughter.
Following Mr. Ratcliffe’s hunger strike and the presence of journalists and a number of citizens, Hamid Baeidi Nejad, Iran’s ambassador to London, protested on Sunday through several Twitter posts what he described as “the blocking of the entrance to Iran’s embassy in London by a group of protesters.”
Stating that these people spent the previous day and night outside the embassy, he wrote: “Today, in addition to the individuals, media have gathered outside the embassy to prepare reports. The sidewalk outside the embassy remains blocked and diplomats are unable to move freely.”
The hunger strikes of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her husband began at a time when previously, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Narges Mohammadi, a civil activist imprisoned in December 2018, had gone on hunger strike in protest of lack of medical care by prison officials.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained at Tehran International Airport on April 6, 2016, while attempting to return to London with her two-year-old daughter after visiting family in Iran, and was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison on security charges.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps accused Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe of training journalists for foreign media, but she denied the charges, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation formally announced that she was a simple employee in the administrative department of the foundation.
Recently, Iranian judicial authorities have also mentioned “another open case” for Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, which they say will be reviewed after “the closure of the previous case.”
Western analysts say the Islamic Republic uses dual-national citizens as hostages to extract money and concessions from Western governments.
Source: Voice of America
