18 November 2016, 18:54 UTC<\/p>\n
Fears are growing for the physical and mental health of Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian charity worker who is serving a five-year prison sentence in Iran, convicted of \u201cnational security\u201d charges after an unfair trial, said Amnesty International today.<\/p>\n
Her husband, Richard Radcliffe, told the organization that her health has sharply deteriorated in recent weeks and she has even contemplated suicide. She became so unwell that the authorities arranged an emergency family visit for her today. She is suffering from heart palpitations in addition to pain in her hands, arms and shoulders and blurred vision. She also began a hunger strike on 13 November to express her despair over the prospect of never being released.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe news of the decline in Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe\u2019s health is deeply alarming. Her imprisonment on spurious \u2018national security\u2019 charges has been utterly unjust,\u201d said Philp Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter her arrest, she was separated from her baby daughter and held in solitary confinement for 45 days. Instead of prolonging her pain and suffering, the Iranian authorities must end her ordeal by releasing her immediately and unconditionally.\u201d<\/p>\n
During an emergency family visit today, Nazanin\u2019s mother collapsed when she saw how thin her daughter had become since her imprisonment. Nazanin agreed to end the hunger strike today for the sake of her baby daughter.<\/p>\n
Despite two visits to the clinic at Tehran\u2019s Evin Prison her husband says she has not received adequate medical care.<\/p>\n
Her husband told Amnesty International that over the past few weeks she had reached \u201cbreaking point\u201d. He said her spirits had sunk so low that she even wrote a suicide letter to him. She gave the letter to her cellmate but has not talked about suicide since.<\/p>\n
\u201cNazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe\u2019s ordeal has caused her immense despair and suffering. It is shocking that the Iranian authorities are adding to her pain by failing to grant her adequate medical care,\u201d said Philip Luther.<\/p>\n
The Iranian authorities announced earlier this year that her arrest was linked to her involvement with a network of bloggers imprisoned in 2014 for taking part in journalism training courses.<\/p>\n
On 15 June, Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards released a statement saying that Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe had \u201cparticipated in devising and carrying out media and cyber projects aimed at the soft overthrow of the government\u201d.<\/p>\n
Amnesty International believes she is a prisoner of conscience who has been imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of her rights to freedom of expression and association.<\/p>\n