Detained UK-Iranian dual national has been victim of torture, says psychiatrists’ report

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe “is in urgent need of psychiatric support” and has been the victim of torture, a report prepared by psychiatrists has found after examining her mental health.

The detained British-Iranian dual-national’s healing “can be only provided in the UK in the presence of her family after reunification”, the report says.

In an exclusive interview as his wife faces her fifth Christmas as a prisoner, Richard Ratcliffe tells why he fears even the end of her sentence won’t see her freed

It was after they had decorated the Christmas tree that Gabriella Ratcliffe started crying herself to sleep again. “She has been quite tearful for a few nights now, asking me ‘when is Mummy coming back?’ – which she hadn’t been doing,” said her father Richard Ratcliffe. “It’s all the associations of Christmas and family.”

For the fifth year in a row, his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe will spend Christmas Day – and her birthday, which is on Boxing Day – a prisoner in Iran. Only she isn’t merely a prisoner, Ratcliffe says; she’s a hostage. And it’s vital the government acknowledges that: “There has been a real reluctance on the part of the British government and the wider world to call out Iran’s hostage taking, which has enabled it.”

British-Iranian dual national in court to hear fresh charges of undermining Iranian state

The detained British-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has avoided being sent back to jail after after appearing in court to hear fresh charges of undermining the Iranian state.

There had been fears that she would be sent back to Evin prison in Tehran but the hearing was adjourned before she could present her defence, her British-based family told her local MP, Tulip Siddiq.

British-Iranian dual national said to be relieved but angry at surprise move

A new trial of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian dual national detained in Iran for the past four years, has been postponed at the last minute.

Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, confirmed the news, which came as a surprise to both his wife and her London-based family. Her MP, Tulip Sidiq, said Zaghari-Ratcliffe was relieved but also frustrated, angry and stressed.

UK government urged to attend trial on Sunday of British-Iranian dual national

Iran’s decision to press fresh charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is illegal and shows she is being held as a hostage, her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, has said.

He called on the British government to do everything possible to protect her, include demanding UK officials are allowed to attend her trial on Sunday.

State TV says British-Iranian dual national to appear in Tehran court on Sunday

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe will appear in an Iranian court on Sunday after the country’s state media said she faced a new and unspecified charge.

The news came as a bombshell to the family of the British-Iranian dual national, who has been under effective house arrest ever since the coronavirus outbreak led to her release from prison after serving nearly four of her of her five-year sentence.