An open letter to Iran foreign minister Zarif, from Richard Ratcliffe

Dear Foreign Minister Zarif,

This week has been a tough one for Nazanin and our family – with her release and reimprisonment. At the end, we felt held together by sellotape. It was a week of two pictures, but also two scenes kept offstage.

A week ago, Nazanin was suddenly released from Evin Prison on furlough for Eid. She had been given 10 minutes notice before she was out on the street, and had used a passerby’s phone to call for family help. I was awoken to see her smiling face on Skype – the first time I had seen her in over two years. Three hours later, Gabriella was in her arms, an image shared on front pages around the world, a picture that even your Iranian Ambassador to the UK tweeted, his celebration of her release cheering our hopes.

I am thankful to you for your part in making that possible. Last weekend, Gabriella was finally able to give her mummy the flowers other families give Evin prisoners on release. She was able to show her life and toys, and to show her nursery friends that her mum was real. The pictures of those days were lovely to see.

Three days later came the second picture – when Nazanin’s release suddenly came to an end. It was a day of cruel disbelief – different Iranian officials gave different messages – but it was back to black all the same. Nazanin vowed to walk into Evin with her head held high, reassuring her daughter’s tears. Once past the door, it took her an hour to reach the ward, where she was received by prison guards who also cried.

Back in prison, we had the offstage effects. Nazanin called me on Tuesday – one of our toughest conversations. She wished she had never been released. She said she felt like one of the radical Islamists’ captives – as though she had been paraded on the balcony then hidden back away. After that call, Nazanin collapsed, the result of two panic attacks. She still has numbness in her legs. She was taken by ambulance to the Evin hospital. There is no picture of that hospitalisation. Consequently, your Foreign Ministry told the UK she was absolutely fine.

It happened also because of the second scene, which was not captured on camera. As Nazanin was being released, her interrogator called her father in to privately warn him that the British Embassy should not visit her, if she wanted to stay safe. Each day he called to note they were monitoring her movements, and check her father was following her to make sure she did not suffer an accident on the street. Those calls cast a shadow over her release, as they were meant to.

Nazanin observed all the conditions she was given for her furlough. It went beyond the Revolutionary Guard’s legal mandate to insist on extra terms. Still, it was not enough to prevent the cruel game. Though none of this is a game. The judiciary told Nazanin’s family that the Revolutionary Guard have overstepped their boundaries in Nazanin’s case. They are doing it still. This is something your government needs to control. I have been accused of megaphone diplomacy – but against these whispers in the shadows, a clear voice is a family’s only protection.

We crossed a threshold this week. I have told the Foreign Office we will not be pushing for furlough again. Today, Alistair Burt is in Tehran – I have asked him to find out from your ministry what is going on. We will again be asking the UK to grant Nazanin diplomatic protection.

In three weeks, Nazanin will be eligible for unconditional release, when she reaches the halfway point of 900 days. This is when we will also both be in New York due to the UNGA meetings. I would like to meet with you – to discuss what is next for Nazanin.

Some things in our story are very public, some things are often hidden away. Nazanin is one of a number of Iranian dual nationals held on invented political charges, a wave of ordinary people taken in the political battles following the nuclear deal. We will be meeting with other families in this situation. For all of us, this has gone on for too long.

This past two years we have been asking: What good is a government if it cannot protect its citizens from abuse? This week, the new UK foreign secretary was increasingly clear about the unfairness of Nazanin’s situation. It is time for the Iranian government to protect its own citizens from the excesses of other parts of the regime.

That is the lesson from our week of two pictures – we need your help to close the protection gap.

Yours,

Richard Ratcliffe