With all due respect to Anoosheh Ashoori, I have consistently joined in efforts to release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. While her husband has campaigned magnificently to bring Nazanin home, one organisation that has consistently supported him is, of course, Amnesty International (AI). As an AI member, I attended a Mothers' Day vigil for Nazanin in March, 2019 - please see my post of that time by clicking the link. The photograph above was taken outside the Iranian Embassy on that day. Even back then, I thought that Richard's face was that of a man who was walking a long, hard road - and he still had three years to go. Since that time, he was able to welcome his daughter back to the UK, went on hunger strike in support of his wife, had his hopes for her release dashed on many occasions, but never gave up hope. For me, the three years passed since then have gone by quickly - for Richard, Nazanin and family they must have felt interminable.
On the day of the vigil in 2019, I was honoured to meet Richard's parents, John and Barbara, seen above. They told me of the heartache and anguish Nazanin's incarceration had caused the whole family. They also told me of the ridiculous accusations that the Iranian regime had levelled at John - that he was a spy. John was 69 at the time and too old for MI6. I will finish this section by wishing the whole of the reunited Ratcliffe family every happiness and a peaceful new life together.
But, of course, we can't leave it there. While it is good to write about the Ratcliffe reunion, it's worth reminding ourselves what Nazanin went through during her six years as a hostage and to bear in mind what other "political" prisoners of the Iranian regime are suffering. As we know, Nazanin was arrested before boarding a flight home to UK six years ago, and was held for a time in the establishment pictured above. It is the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, which welcomes English-speaking prisoners with a sign over the gate: "Evin House of Detention". Perhaps that is done to make English speakers feel more welcome.
It was hardly welcome for Naznin, or any other prisoner. Evin has an evil reputation for ill-treatment of female prisoners. Quite how Nazanin felt when being taken there is unimaginable; even senior Iranian politicians have acknowledged that female prisoners faced sexual abuse from guards. As Wikipedia says:
"Following the 2009 Iranian presidential election and subsequent protests, Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi said several protesters held behind bars have been savagely raped, according to a confidential letter to senior cleric and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.[59] Karroubi said this was a "fragment" of the evidence he had and that if the denials did not stop, he would release even more".The pressure on Nazanin appears (hopefully) to have been psychological and inflicted by female guards. They taunted her by saying that Richard's efforts to free her would lead to her being detained even longer. The BBC says here:
"At the start of her imprisonment, Nazanin told doctors, when she was in solitary confinement with the lights always on, her interrogators taunted her that Richard was having affairs and that they had photographic evidence.One of her female guards used to talk loudly to her own child just outside Nazanin's cell. "It was unbearable," Nazanin said. "I dreaded her shifts as I knew she would do that to torture me."
After a period of healing, we may learn more about how Nazanin was treated in the Evin Prison, but we need to bear in mind that there are many other individuals held unjustly in Iran. I can only refer readers to the Amnesty International report 2020-21on Iran, even though it makes for grim reading. This extract may suffice:
" Women, as well as ethnic and religious minorities, faced entrenched discrimination as well as violence. Enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment were committed with impunity on a widespread and systematic basis. Judicial corporal punishments amounting to torture, including floggings and amputations, were imposed. Fair trial rights were systematically violated".
I am sure that I speak for many when I say that I was flabbergasted at Boris Johnson's reaction to Nazanin's release. He told Sky News how delighted he was at her long-awaited freedom. He made no mention of his blunder in telling the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in 2017 that Nazanin had been teaching Iranians journalism - which led to her being taken back to court in Tehran. Tulip Siddique, MP for the Ratcliffe family, has written in the Observer, quoted here in The Guardian, that she and Richard Ratcliffe met with Boris soon after his blunder:
“This disastrous blunder meant Johnson was forced to meet us. Again, I raised my concerns about the debt, which were flatly denied by him,” she writes. “Incredibly, he asked if Richard had enjoyed his visit to Iran. Anyone who had read a newspaper article on the case was aware that Richard had been at home in the UK when his wife was arrested in Iran. To this day, I feel astonished by Johnson’s extremely poor grasp of his brief."
"The debt", of course, is the £400 million pounds that the UK government owed to Iran over tanks ordered by the Shah of Iran back in the 70s, but not delivered. Ms Siddque's article is scathing here, again quoted in the Guardian:
"The MP writes about how successive prime ministers denied there was any link between the UK’s debt to Iran and Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release, despite the fact that her captors told her there was. It was only last year, after Liz Truss became foreign secretary, that the link was acknowledged, and debt accepted as “legitimate”."
In conclusion, while we can rejoice at the return of Anoosheh Ashoori and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to our shores, I feel a sense of foreboding for the future. While this debt had to be paid, legally, there is nothing to stop other regimes taking hostages as bargaining chips in future disputes. The only, limited, suggestion I have is that it might be a good idea for British nationals, dual citizens or otherwise, not to visit Iran. I certainly won't be going, after this article is published.
I wrote on my Facebook what great news it was that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori were on their way home to the UK. It was completely wrong that Iran imprisoned them as political pawns on trumped up charges. However, since the 1970s the UK has owed Iran £400 million for a cancelled military order. Whatever we think of the Iranian regime, we owed them that money and should have repaid it a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteBoth the UK and Iran have come out of this situation extremely badly, and both are responsible for these innocent people losing years of freedom.