Shocking story of the family of a dual-national prisoner in Iran; interrogators said: We will harass your family in Britain

The son of Anousheh Ashouri, a British-Iranian dual national prisoner, says his father was threatened during interrogation that his family would be "harassed" in the UK.

Elika Ashouri, the daughter of Anousheh Ashouri, a British-Iranian dual national prisoner, told VOA on Monday, July 6, that the dual national prisoner was denied access to a lawyer in the initial trial, which was held under the judgment of Judge Salavati, and after obtaining a lawyer, judicial authorities did not allow the lawyer to access and review the case until the day of the appeals court.

Mr. Anousheh Ashouri is a civil engineer who was arrested in mid-August 2017 while he was visiting and caring for his mother in Iran. After some time, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a fine of 33,000 euros on charges of spying for Israel; charges that Mr. Ashouri's family members consider to be fabricated.

According to Elika Ashouri, after reviewing the case, the lawyer noted that there was no evidence of espionage charges in the case of this dual-national prisoner; however, Mr. Anousheh Ashouri was convicted of spying for the Israeli government.

The son of Anousheh Ashouri, a British-Iranian dual national prisoner, told VOA: "My father has been repeatedly threatened to confess to the charges in the four months he has been interrogated. The interrogator said they know where his family works and lives, and that the Islamic Republic has associates in Britain who can harass his family, and if he does not confess to espionage, they will do so [harass his family]."

Elika Ashouri broke the news that, according to the British Foreign Office, at least 12 dual British-Iranian nationals and British citizens are currently imprisoned in Iranian prisons.

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

Regarding the reason for the family's silence at the beginning of the arrest of Anousheh Ashouri, a British-Iranian dual national prisoner, Elika Ashouri told VOA: "We didn't contact anyone for the first year because we were afraid and didn't know if reporting it would have a positive or negative effect on my father's case. And the only reason we contacted the British Foreign Office after a year was because my father's British passport had been confiscated at the time of his arrest and he was afraid that the Islamic Republic would misuse it."

Elika Ashouri says that since there was no significant progress in her father's case, the family of this British-Iranian dual national took action themselves and announced the news of his arrest and imprisonment.

Ms. Ashouri also referred to the spread of the coronavirus in Iranian prisons and expressed concern about her father's health condition in Evin Prison, saying: "The sanitary conditions of the prison are not suitable, and Evin Prison is not prepared in terms of hygiene to prevent and combat the coronavirus, and to this day, no sanitary supplies, including masks and disinfectants, have been provided to prisoners."

According to Mr. Ashouri's son, although this dual-citizen prisoner suffers from medical problems related to his teeth and knees, to date he has not been given the right to use medical centers outside the prison for treatment, and the family is concerned that Mr. Ashouri's health will be jeopardized by the prison conditions.

With the start of the spread of the coronavirus, the Islamic Republic has released a number of dual citizens, such as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, from prison on leave, but others, such as Anousheh Ashouri and Siamak Namazi, are still imprisoned.

Iran has intensified the detention of foreign citizens and dual nationals in recent years.

The United States Department of State has repeatedly condemned the Islamic Republic's regime's arbitrary and unjustified detention of American and other citizens, including dual-national Iranians, and called for their immediate and unconditional release.

Source: Voice of America