Nazanin-Ratcliffe

I am relieved to hear that Nazanin, and her husband Richard, officially ended their 15 day hunger strike on the 29th June 2019. Unfortunately, the charity, ‘Redress,’ who have been working on Nazanin’s case, have reported that her physical health has deteriorated, suffering from blackouts, panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder, yet she has been denied medical treatment. This is wholly unacceptable, and we must keep campaigning for her release to see her safe return to the UK.
 

Boris Johnson, as our Prime Minister, must take responsibility for his comments that led to an extension of Ratcliffe’s sentence. I am deeply concerned with the former UK Foreign Secretary’s far-from helpful intervention in Nazanin’s case – British citizens unfairly imprisoned abroad should be able to rely on our Foreign Office for support and help, but Boris Johnson MP has compounded the issue, and I will continue to urge the government to rectify this mistake and redouble their efforts to bring Nazanin home. Furthermore, I will continue to hold the Prime Minister to account for this and other issues, especially in light of his Tory leadership campaign.

I continues to raise this issue in Parliament, signing EDM 1452, which reads:
That this House expresses concern for the arbitrary detention of dual nationals in Iran from the UK and other nations; stands in solidarity with recent petitions in the European Parliament, US Congress and Canadian Parliament echoing concerns for the treatment of dual nationals imprisoned in Iran; further expresses particular concern regarding the case of Ms Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British dual national, who has been arbitrarily detained, has been kept in solitary confinement for over eight and a half months and has had numerous trials conducted in secret courts; expresses dismay that the UK Government has failed to acknowledge any violation of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s rights; criticises the Government’s silence when called upon to condemn the actions by the Iranian Government; recommends that the Government should make these representations based on human rights obligations; urges the Government to take a more proactive approach to identifying and intervening in cases where British nationals face grave human rights violations; urges the Government to improve levels of protection for UK nationals imprisoned abroad; and calls on the Government to state that in all cases involving British nationals imprisoned abroad, any threat of or actual torture or ill-treatment will not be tolerated and will be publicly condemned by the Government, and that human rights of UK dual nationals detained in Iran must be a redline in any future trade deals negotiated with Iran.

I have also signed EDM 2521 that reads:
That this House strongly condemns the Iranian Government for continuing to hold Ms Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual British-Iranian national, in arbitrary detention and calls for her immediate release; expresses dismay that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained for over three years; supports Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her husband Richard Ratcliffe as they continue a hunger strike in protest at Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s arbitrary detention; condemns the Embassy of the Iranian Republic in the UK for disrupting Mr Ratcliffe’s protest; urges the UK Government to continue to identify and intervene in cases where British nationals face grave human rights violations in Iran; expresses concern that as diplomatic relations between the West and Iran deteriorate, due to aggressive actions in the Middle East, that British-Iranians will be put at greater risk of arbitrary detention in Iran; and calls on the UK Government to state that in all cases involving British nationals or dual nationals imprisoned abroad, any threat of or actual torture or ill-treatment will not be tolerated and will be publicly condemned by the Government, and that the human rights of UK dual nationals detained in Iran must be a red line in any future trade deals negotiated with Iran.

I will continue to press this issue and monitor the situation, and we must all keep up the campaign to ensure that Nazanin is returned safely to the UK.