to find the latest news about Nazanin Ratcliffe completel heartbreaking

[MassDebate]

Nazanin, a British-Iranian mother to 2 year old Gabriella, was detained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard when awaiting her flight home from Tehran in February. She was thrown into an Iranian jail and has been held prisoner ever since. Following a secret trial and without any charges being disclosed, her family discovered this morning she has been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. Nazanin communicated this news to her husband earlier, expressing her devastation at being separated from her daughter for a fifth of her life.

Little Gabriella (2) had her passport confiscated by the Iranian authorities when her mum was taken, and has been looked after by her grandparents in Iran ever since. Her British father has been advised it would not be safe for him to try to collect her from Iran.

As a parent to a 2 year old this horrendous case makes me well up - I can only imagine the horror of being separated from my child in this way.

AIBU to find the situation so heartbreaking and want to tell you all about it? I can't help but think that raising Nazanin's profile will help ensure she isn't forgotten given the resumption of diplomatic relations (and trade talks) with Iran in recent weeks.

I don't know what to think about this. At best she was very naive to travel to Iran with dual citizenship knowing that she would be subject to the laws of the country as a citizen.

I think her daughter should be allowed home. But I'm not sure if that is being prevented. The British foreign office has been quoted as saying they stand ready to help get her home if requested. That suggests they haven't been asked to do so yet.

Maybe I'm being too cynical but I don't think we know the whole story here.

It's not as simple as that littleducks. The Iranian state does not recognize dual nationality and the passport cannot be "surrendered" in the way that we can here in the UK. Many Iranians obtain another passport - UK, US, etc - but then are prevented from traveling "home" on that passport, because the government does not permit or recognize it. So you are in a bind - because if you want to see your family again, then you have to take the risk of traveling as a "dual citizen". As DH does, several times a year. Not all Iranians can travel easily - you can imagine how "welcoming" most western countries are to those coming to visit. The obvious question is "why would you go back?"

My understanding is that the daughter's passport has been confiscated and her father has been advised that he is also at risk of arrest if he tries to go to Iran.

Whatever the full story is here, I would bet my boots she is not a "spy". The UK government is wetting itself over the prospect of lucrative contracts in Iran as it supposedly "liberalized" and is willing to ignore it's appalling human rights record. Same old, same old.

YoungGirlGrowingOld

You do realise that Iran no longer recognise Dual Nationality and this is possibly why all the freaking problems have started?

Even if you have dual nationality with a country that recognises dual nationality it is extremely difficult for the UK government to help you in situations where you may need help when in the other "home" country.

I didn't see the second page! Glad you are aware of this fact re Dual Nationality Young!

I realise its not simple but it does seem like a big risk to take. She worked with journalists, there are photos of her at Arab communications summits so she was familiar with the political situation.

Regardless of Iran's view on dual citizenship the foreign office here state they wouldn't get involved in dual nationals interactions with authorities of their 'other' country

littleducks given she is an innocent woman who was simply visiting her family with their grandchild I doubt she ever contemplated for one moment that this could happen to her . I'm sure the next time she has the liberty to leave the country she will go and never return to Iran, probably never seeing many of her family again.

The situation with Gabriella is that her passport has been confiscated and only one of her parents can take her out of Iran. Her mother is languishing in a high security prison and her father has been advised not to travel to Iran for his own safety. So she has been de facto detained, even if the UK authorities choose not to categorise her as such. If the UK government was able to guarantee his safety I'm sure her father would be there like a shot to collect his daughter. I can only imagine the pain and frustration he feels at not being able to do more for Nazanin and having to watch his toddler growing up from afar. It's unbearably cruel.

Thanks user - yes, sorry if my first post wasn't clear. Worried about DH. And 7 months pregnant so can't even have a 🍷!

little yes, it's a risk but it's a necessary evil for many, many Iranians in the west. How else do they see their families? Would you just accept that your parents can never meet your DC or take a calculated gamble (that, 99 times out of 100, does not end in imprisonment).

It's never simple but just to shrug and say "oh well, she knew the risk" belies the gravity of the situation for this poor family.

And Arabs and Persians are rather different (and both are equally offended if you confuse the two). So whatever she was doing at an "Arab" communications summit I suspect it had nothing to do with her detention.

I don't know that she is innocent. TBH nobody really knows if we don't know what she has been accused of.

It being a horrible situation doesn't mean that we can change that fact that as an Iranian citizen she is subject to Iranian law if she chooses to go there and there is little we can do.

The family appear not to have asked for support in arranging for Gabriella back to the UK from the foreign office. The father is reported to have said he only wanted it done face to face (but was afraid to go to Iran). Unfortunately that seems to be a luxury he does not have. To me it seems like a misrepresention to say she is trapped in Iran.

I know someone who is a friend of hers. All of their friends and family are tirelessly campaigning for them. It's a heartbreakingly sad situation for all involved. Cannot begin to understand what they are both going through

Oh and the Arab IPU has member countries including Sudan, Palestine and at one point Somalia not countries normally classified as Arab. But high profile work in the region. When the original thread about this was on MN there were other internet links about her work on middle east affairs including on London Met Unis website. This has all been pulled now.

I can tell you categorically that the family has asked for help littleducks. They've been asking for help to get both Nazanin and Gabriella home for the past 5 months.

FFS littleducks - way to be an apologist for state-sanctioned terrorism. Gabriella is a two year old born in Britain, who now has no passport and no parents. Of course the family has asked for help.

And what is the point of restoring full diplomatic relations with Iran if not for the government to intervene in events like this? The Iranian regime has previous for collecting prisoners to exchange at a future, more convenient date. That suggests (to me at least) that she is more likely than not to be innocent. The absence of any charges or a public trial with due process further reinforces this.

They are both British nationals and seem to have been thrown under the bus.

The little girl absolutely should be returned home. Her poor father. He's done nothing to deserve this and neither has his daughter.... The pair of them are innocent!

Mumontherun what do you think the mother has possibly done to deserve this? I am astounded anyone can feel anything but sympathy and outrage for the whole family.

I have received the regular email updates from her husband about this for some months now, after signing the petition.

It seems that she was tried for a crime, and they used whatever "evidence" that came out of the trial to decide on a charge.

He also believes she is being held as some kind of political pawn. The Iranians want something from the British, and her release will be dependent on whatever that is.

It makes me so sad, but some people need to believe that the world works in a very simple and binary way.

Where good wins out and bad can be explained away.

So, if she's arrested, she must have broken a law, so, she got was what coming to her. In spite of the charges, trial and detention being by an undemocratic power with huge human rights breaches well known on a global level.

But no, she arrested = she guilty.

And then there's the idea that she 'chose' dual nationality, and chose to enter this country, soooo, oh yes, she deserves everything she gets.

Or she chose to go to the 'wrong' conferences, spoke to the 'wrong' people (people who are keen on human rights and change, those kind of bad people). So she therefore can be blamed, for making evidence than can be twisted by a corrupt state, or maybe for not being savvy enough to realize that possibility...

And of course, there's no smoke without fire and we're not being told the whole story, sure it's not as simple as all that... Therefore it's sure to be her fault// her husbands fault.

All simply strategies to continue the comfortable and local perspective that keeps the big wide world out. It's much nicer to believe in a world where awful things happen to people who aren't like us, who deserve it really, through guilt, or recklessness or lack of a crystal ball.

I don't think people mean to be mean. But that's what happens when something challenges the way we think and the way we get through life.

I can't believe the lack of compassion by some on this thread.

She is convicted on unspecified charges. There is no justice as we know it. No chance for her to call witnesses or defend herself in any way. She is has been subject to prolonged interrogations and is reported to now be in poor health.

I cannot imagine how her family must feel and the impact this will have on her poor child.

Excellent post Miscellaneous. There was another incident 20-odd years ago when some Iranian Islamic terrorists were arrested in Germany. The morality police basically rounded up anyone in Iran with a German passport and put them in prison for "spying" in anticipation of the exchange that would be negotiated. Anyone who thinks that the charges against Nazanin are credible is probably ignorant of Iranian realpolitik, not to mention recent Persian history. I am really surprised to see that from usually well-informed mumsnetters though.

An Amnesty International petition www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/nazanin-zaghari-ratcliffe-kamal-foroughi-boris-johnson-uk-citizens-imprisoned-iran?thankyou=1here urging Boris Johnson to speak out on her behalf.

here

Signed the petition. Dreadful anguish they must be feeling. I feel powerless to do any more, this world scares me witless most of the time nowadays. I need to live in my own little bubble to get through.

You would think that even the most hardhearted soul would find it in themselves to have sympathy for a young mother in this situation, separated from her husband and small child, in prison for months without being told what crime she is supposed to have committed.

But there is always someone, somewhere who will find a way of blaming the victim. Humans, eh?

I agree with both of you.

And great post by miscellaneous.