In 2019 we gave a U.N. platform to the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a woman held hostage for 5 years by Iran.
Today she was freed—but her return to London remains uncertain as she faces new charges.
Her daughter Gabriella is 6 years old.
Today she was freed—but her return to London remains uncertain as she faces new charges.
Her daughter Gabriella is 6 years old.
https://twitter.com/UNWatch/status/1113895037044187136
It's been 5 years since Richard Ratcliffe waved goodbye to his wife Nazanin at the departure gate at London's Gatwick Airport, worrying only about how their young daughter would cope with the long flight to Tehran. Gabriella at the time was one and three quarters years old.
It was the last time he saw his wife in person. Nazanin was arrested by Iran's Revolutionary Guard as she was about to fly home. Since then, she's endured 8 months of solitary confinement, blindfolded interrogations, false promises of release & 5 years of separation from family.
"The darkest period for Nazanin herself came in 2016, when she was held alone in a dark room, incommunicado. Her interrogators told her, wrongly, that Richard was having affairs and that they had photographic evidence."
bbc.com/news/uk-563016…
bbc.com/news/uk-563016…
Her first letter from jail to her husband: "Every day & every second I would submerge more & more in an ocean of doubt, fear, threat, loneliness... my wails would go unheard in that tiny, dingy, cold, grey cell." Being parted from her daughter has been a source of agony & guilt.
"Separated by thousands of miles, the family speaks twice a day over Skype. Now 42, Nazanin watches Gabriella draw & they play games together. Gabriella looks forward to swimming with her mother. The couple hope to have another child, but fear that time may now be against them." 
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