Iranian health expert to decide if Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe fit to stay in Iran prison
Nazanin's lawyer has told her she is eligible for early release and could be home for Christmas Picture: RICHARD RATCLIFFE - Credit: Archant
Jailed Hampstead mum Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been ordered to see Iranian health experts to decide whether she is fit to stay in prison.
Nazanin and Richard's three-year-old daughter Gabriella wearing a 'freedom pinafore' her mother made out of woollen clothes left by prisoners released from Evin jail. Picture: RICHARD RATCLIFFE - Credit: Archant
Nazanin’s husband Richard Ratcliffe confirmed his wife was taken for an assessment by an Iranian health commissioner on the orders of the prosecutor’s office.
The commissioner asked about her mental and physical health in front of prison doctors last Thursday.
Nazanin told him about her uncontrollable mood swings, insomnia, severe depression and feeling suicidal.
The prison doctor told the commissioner Nazanin had also suffered an attack he linked to post traumatic stress disorder following the latest TV broadcast featuring the 38-year-old.
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Last Wednesday the jailed charity worker was told she would be dragged back to court on December 10 to face the same charges of plotting against the Iranian regime she faced at her first, secret trial in August last year.
The hearing came after she and her daughter Gabriella were seized at Tehran airport in April 2016.
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A spokesman for the country’s courts said today Nazanin is serving her sentence, but added if her ‘circumstances’ include early release then she would be freed.
It has also emerged Nazanin has instructed her lawyer to challenge the lawfulness of an ongoing campaign against her in the Iranian media with concerns over its impact on her chances of a fair trial.
The TV news feature accused Nazanin of being a ‘dangerous’ MI6 spy with a blunder by Boris Johnson in front of a group of MPs – in which he said Nazanin was in Iran working as a journalist when she was in fact visiting family – revealing her significance to the UK.
Mr Ratcliffe said when his wife saw the programme from Evin prison she collapsed and was unable to breathe for a more than a minute.
Two prisoners helped the British-Iranian national to the prison clinic after she was unable to walk due to the shock.
In a recent phone call with her husband, Nazanin said: “I feel like I am drowning and no one can help me. I cannot see the light. My pot of waiting is full.
“I have been deprived of my life. What they say is ridiculous. They have turned it all round to make me into a dangerous person.
“I worry because the scars are so deep. I worry about what Gabriella will remember.”
