Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman imprisoned in Tehran on espionage charges, has announced she will go on hunger strike to protest being denied access to medical care. She made the announcement in a joint letter with fellow prisoner and human rights activist Narges Mohammadi from Tehran's Evin prison.
The women plan an initial three-day hunger strike starting 14 January 2019, which will be extended if their demands are not met. In a letter published by the Defenders of Human Rights Centre, they said they were banned from accessing medical care despite taking daily medicines.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband, Richard Ratcliffe, told the Guardian that treatment for lumps in her breasts, neurological care for neck pains and numbness, and access to an outside psychiatrist had been blocked, despite approval from a prison doctor. He described her mood as 'very bleak' and said she felt she had no choice but to take this action.
Saturday marked 1,000 days since Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport on 3 April 2016. She spent her 40th birthday in prison on Boxing Day. Her four-year-old daughter, Gabriella, is staying with family in Iran.
Ellie Kennedy, an individuals at risk campaigner at Amnesty International UK, said the Iranian authorities were entirely responsible for pushing the two women to take such desperate measures and called on the UK government to insist on immediate medical care.
