A distraught West Hampstead husband has spoken of his fear after losing contact with his wife who has been jailed in Iran and moved to an unknown location
Richard Ratcliffe fears for his wife Nazanin’s safety after hearing nothing from her since Sunday and has no idea where she is.
Nazanin and their daughter Gabriella, two, were seized by security forces at Tehran’s main airport as they arrived for a flight home after a visiting relatives on April 3.
Nazanin, 37, of Fortune Green Road, who has dual British and Iranian citizenship, has since been held in jail without charge separated from Gabriella, whose British passport was seized.
The toddler, who turns two on Saturday, is being looked after by her grandparents in Iran but is not allowed to leave.
Until Sunday Nazanin’s family had been allowed one visit and were in contact with her she was moved out of solitary confinement and allowed a daily phonecall to her parents from her prison in Kerman Province.
But after one last phonecall on Sunday, all contact has now been lost and they don’t know where she is.
Mr Ratcliffe said: “I am very worried. Certainly, her family are terrified. We have heard nothing since Sunday. Other prisoners who Nazanin had made friends with have contacted her parents to say she has been moved.
“I have no idea where my wife is. She has had no access to a lawyer. In her Sunday phonecall she had seemed certain that she was to be released. Since then we have heard nothing. Her parents are so worried at first they couldn’t even tell me what had happened.”
This news comes as Mr Ratcliffe prepares today to hold a protest birthday party for Gabriella outside the Iranian embassy, in Princes Gate, followed by a picnic in Hyde Park this afternoon.
The Ham&High, some of Nazanin’s Hampstead Mums Facebook group friends and her family along with Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq and her two-month year old daughter are also joining Mr Ratcliffe, meeting at 12:45pm outside the embassy.
Other local families are invited to join him too during the afternoon when he will talk to little Gabriella via videolink.
He has also invited members of the Iranian embassy and the foreign office to attend but they have declined.
Three weeks ago he presented a petition, which now has more than three quarters of a million signatures to the Prime Minister David Cameron, urging him to intervene to help release Nazaning and bring her and Gabriella home.
He has had no response.
Ms Siddiq has also called for an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss Nazanin’s plight and urge him to do something.
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