British-Iranian ends 15-day hunger strike in Tehran jail

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in 2016 as she was leaving Iran after taking then 22-month-old Gabriella to visit her family.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of detained Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, outside the Iranian Embassy in Knightsbridge, Source: AAP

A British-Iranian mother jailed in Tehran since 2016 on sedition charges she denies has ended her hunger strike after 15 days, her husband said Saturday.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband, Richard Ratcliffe, told BBC Radio that his wife had eaten some porridge with apple and banana.

"I'm relieved because I wouldn't have wanted her to push it much longer," said Mr Ratcliffe, who also went without food for 15 days in solidarity with his wife.

He said the protest had helped raise the profile of his wife's case.

"In Iran, we've become a much bigger story than we were before and there's an awareness that really this needs to be solved."
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
An undated photo of the jailed British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabriella. Source: AAP
Mr Ratcliffe had spent much of that time picketing Iran's embassy in London, urging whoever is to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May to make his wife's case a priority.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 40, began refusing food to mark her daughter Gabriella's fifth birthday.

She was arrested in April 2016 as she was leaving Iran after taking then 22-month-old Gabriella to visit her family. 

She was sentenced to five years for allegedly trying to topple the Iranian government.

A project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the media group's philanthropic arm, she denies all charges.

The case has added to long-standing tensions between Tehran and London, which is a major arms supplier to Iran's arch-enemy Saudi Arabia.


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2 min read
Published 29 June 2019 9:12pm
Source: AFP, SBS, Reuters


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