No Temporary Release for Nazanin — Despite Promises

Iranian authorities have blocked Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s request for temporary leave from prison to spend time with her daughter. 

On Sunday, September 24, officials informed Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is an Iranian-British dual national, and her family, that her application had been blocked by orders of the Revolutionary Guards — despite receiving reassurances from top judicial authorities that the leave would be granted. 

Her family has organized a vigil outside the Iranian Embassy in London to protest against this fresh violation of Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s rights. Marking the UK’s National Poetry Day, the family and supporters will read out poems about freedom, the theme chosen for this year, written by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her fellow prisoners.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-British citizen, is serving a five-year jail term on unspecified charges. She was arrested in April 2016, and waited almost five months for a verdict, which she appealed. In April 2017, Iran’s supreme court rejected her appeal. 

Under Iranian law, inmates are allowed temporary leave from prison, called a furlough, after they have served a sixth of their sentence. So this means the Guards’ move to block Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s is illegal. 

A psychiatrist has diagnosed Zaghari-Ratcliffe as suffering from extreme depression, and her family has repeatedly expressed their distress at her deteriorating health at a time when health concerns of Iranian prisoners are under scrutiny. 

Nazanin’s husband Richard Ratcliffe attempted to meet with members of the Iranian delegation at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week, but was unsuccessful. He has applied for a visa to travel to Iran to see his wife and their young daughter, who has now not seen for 18 months. So far his visa has not been granted. He has appealed to Foreign Minister Javad Zarif for his personal help with the matter. 

 

The vigil outside the Iranian Embassy, at 16 Princes Gate, Knightsbridge, London SW7 1PT, will take place between 5 and 7pm this evening. 

 

One of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s poems, to be read at the event, is below

 

 

Autumn Light

 

The diagonal light falling on my bed

Tells me that there is another autumn on the way

Without you

A child turned three

Without us

The bars of the prison grew around us

So unjustly and fearlessly

And we left our dreams behind them 

We walked on the stairs that led to captivity

Our night time stories remained unfinished

And lost in the silence of the night

Nothing is the same here

And without you even fennel tea loses its odour

 

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe