Latest news with #NazaninZaghari-Ratcliffe
The National
2 days ago
- Politics
- The National
I spent four years in Iran's Evin Prison, but strength has come from it
The retired civil engineer, now 71, had been visiting his mum in the north of Tehran when he was suddenly arrested and imprisoned having been falsely accused of spying for Israel's Mossad Intelligence agency, despite having lived in the UK for 20 years. He spent nearly five years in the jail in foul conditions, facing long hours of interrogation and threats, which eventually drove him to attempt to take his own life three times. But through his own and his family's perseverance and determination, he has lived to tell the tale. In March 2022, Ashoori was released from Evin Prison alongside fellow British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. READ MORE: Glasgow arts centre temporarily closes after pro-Palestine protest Their release followed months of intensive diplomatic negotiations between London and Tehran and the repaying of a debt owed by the UK to Iran. The UK paid £393.8m owed to Iran after it cancelled an order for British-made Chieftain tanks following the overthrow of the Shah in the revolution of 1979. Now dad-of-two Ashoori will be sharing his incredible story with the people of Scotland at an exhibition accounting his experiences in Perth, run by the local Amnesty International group. Ashoori told The National he wanted to convey some crucial messages in the account of his ordeal and remind people that what happened to him could have happened to anyone. 'If we as the British public are indifferent to the things that are happening around us, it will come and knock at our door,' he said. 'So we should be vigilant. I was an ordinary person, I was living my own life, and I was involved with engineering, my main hobby was astronomy, nothing to do with politics and I fell into this trap. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. 'My other message is that there are two golden rules for victory; golden rule number one is always remember that perseverance pays off, as it did for me. Golden rule number two is never forget golden rule number one. (Image: Amnesty International) 'It was because of perseverance by my family that I am now here. Otherwise I would be among my friends who are now being transferred from Evin prison after that attack to a far worse prison in south of Tehran. Their life has turned from hell, to triple hell." Evin Prison came under attack by Israel earlier this week amid strikes elsewhere in Tehran. The exhibition at St John's Kirk in Perth – devised by Ashoori himself with the support of Amnesty International – will recreate the emotional and physical reality of his detention and will feature personal items Ashoori was able to smuggle out of Tehran's notorious Evin prison after his release. It will feature a reconstruction of his arrest, the crowded conditions in cockroach- and bedbug-infested communal cells, and how the inspiration of hoping to run the London marathon after his release helped Ashoori cope with his time in jail. It is miraculous he is now able to share this story of resolve and courage when a few years before, he had been in solitary confinement, with a floodlight beaming down onto his head 24 hours a day and malfunctioning air conditioning. 'All that it could blow was hot air,' he said. READ MORE: Patrick Harvie and Angus Robertson face-off over Israel divestment 'The food was foul, and I could hear very clearly the sound of crying and whimpering of my neighbouring cells. So, there was sleep deprivation, long hours of interrogation trying to force me to make confessions. 'Then came the threats. They had my laptop, and they printed pictures of my family members. They used to come and say, 'look this is your son smiling, next time you're going to have a picture of his corpse'. 'When you are going through that day after day, you reach a threshold. Eventually, because of those pressures and lack of sleep, you tend to believe what they say. 'I reached a point where I reasoned with myself that the only way to protect my family members from harm was not to be. That led to three suicide attempts. Luckily, I survived.' Amid the torture and despair Ashoori was going through, there was glimpses of hope he held onto, through running while in prison and the poetry society he created with other inmates. One of his fellow prisoners opened his eyes to a collection of poems called Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire, which he reflects on regularly in the healthy, happy life he now leads – which has included him living out his dream of running the London Marathon no less than four times. 'After being released, the Anoosheh Ashoori that was so indifferent to all these things became quite active. So many good things emerged, one of them was the London Marathon, of course,' he said. 'The Flowers of Evil collection of poems [taught us] even from the darkest places, goodness can emerge. Strength can emerge. That is what happened.' The Surviving Evin exhibition is running from Friday, June 27 to Sunday, July 6, at St John's Kirk, Perth.
The National
2 days ago
- Politics
- The National
'I spent four years in Iran's Evin Prison, but strength has come from it'
The retired civil engineer, now 71, had been visiting his mum in the north of Tehran when he was suddenly arrested and imprisoned having been falsely accused of spying for Israel's Mossad Intelligence agency, despite having lived in the UK for 20 years. He spent nearly five years in the jail in foul conditions, facing long hours of interrogation and threats, which eventually drove him to attempt to take his own life three times. But through his own and his family's perseverance and determination, he has lived to tell the tale. In March 2022, Ashoori was released from Evin Prison alongside fellow British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. READ MORE: Glasgow arts centre temporarily closes after pro-Palestine protest Their release followed months of intensive diplomatic negotiations between London and Tehran and the repaying of a debt owed by the UK to Iran. The UK paid £393.8m owed to Iran after it cancelled an order for British-made Chieftain tanks following the overthrow of the Shah in the revolution of 1979. Now dad-of-two Ashoori will be sharing his incredible story with the people of Scotland at an exhibition accounting his experiences in Perth, run by the local Amnesty International group. Ashoori told The National he wanted to convey some crucial messages in the account of his ordeal and remind people that what happened to him could have happened to anyone. 'If we as the British public are indifferent to the things that are happening around us, it will come and knock at our door,' he said. 'So we should be vigilant. I was an ordinary person, I was living my own life, and I was involved with engineering, my main hobby was astronomy, nothing to do with politics and I fell into this trap. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. 'My other message is that there are two golden rules for victory; golden rule number one is always remember that perseverance pays off, as it did for me. Golden rule number two is never forget golden rule number one. (Image: Amnesty International) 'It was because of perseverance by my family that I am now here. Otherwise I would be among my friends who are now being transferred from Evin prison after that attack to a far worse prison in south of Tehran. Their life has turned from hell, to triple hell." Evin Prison came under attack by Israel earlier this week amid strikes elsewhere in Tehran. The exhibition at St John's Kirk in Perth – devised by Ashoori himself with the support of Amnesty International – will recreate the emotional and physical reality of his detention and will feature personal items Ashoori was able to smuggle out of Tehran's notorious Evin prison after his release. It will feature a reconstruction of his arrest, the crowded conditions in cockroach- and bedbug-infested communal cells, and how the inspiration of hoping to run the London marathon after his release helped Ashoori cope with his time in jail. It is miraculous he is now able to share this story of resolve and courage when a few years before, he had been in solitary confinement, with a floodlight beaming down onto his head 24 hours a day and malfunctioning air conditioning. 'All that it could blow was hot air,' he said. READ MORE: Patrick Harvie and Angus Robertson face-off over Israel divestment 'The food was foul, and I could hear very clearly the sound of crying and whimpering of my neighbouring cells. So, there was sleep deprivation, long hours of interrogation trying to force me to make confessions. 'Then came the threats. They had my laptop, and they printed pictures of my family members. They used to come and say, 'look this is your son smiling, next time you're going to have a picture of his corpse'. 'When you are going through that day after day, you reach a threshold. Eventually, because of those pressures and lack of sleep, you tend to believe what they say. 'I reached a point where I reasoned with myself that the only way to protect my family members from harm was not to be. That led to three suicide attempts. Luckily, I survived.' Amid the torture and despair Ashoori was going through, there was glimpses of hope he held onto, through running while in prison and the poetry society he created with other inmates. One of his fellow prisoners opened his eyes to a collection of poems called Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire, which he reflects on regularly in the healthy, happy life he now leads – which has included him living out his dream of running the London Marathon no less than four times. 'After being released, the Anoosheh Ashoori that was so indifferent to all these things became quite active. So many good things emerged, one of them was the London Marathon, of course,' he said. 'The Flowers of Evil collection of poems [taught us] even from the darkest places, goodness can emerge. Strength can emerge. That is what happened.' The Surviving Evin exhibition is running from Friday, June 27 to Sunday, July 6, at St John's Kirk, Perth.
Spectator
5 days ago
- Politics
- Spectator
Israel is right to strike Evin prison
Israeli announced today that it has launched an unprecedented strike against regime targets in central Tehran, including the notorious Evin prison. Evin is infamous for holding foreign hostages and dual nationals, many of whom are detained by the regime as part of what human rights groups call 'hostage diplomacy'. It has long been associated with arbitrary detention, torture, forced confessions and inhumane conditions, especially for political prisoners and those accused of spying or threatening national security. The facility is run by the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards, serving as the central site for imprisoning those accused of anti-regime activity. Foreign and dual nationals are often arrested on vague charges such as 'espionage' or 'collaborating with hostile states'. In many cases, these charges are unsubstantiated and used as leverage in international negotiations, as was the case with British Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Conditions inside Evin are harsh, including solitary confinement, denial of legal access, threats against family members and psychological and physical abuse. These strikes mark a significant widening of Israel's military focus, from largely nuclear, ballistic missile, and aerial defence targets, to those which represent the regime's ideological and repressive core: its prison system, security headquarters, and propaganda symbols. It suggests a strategic intent not merely to deter or disrupt, but to help bring down the theocratic dictatorship that holds both its own people and foreign nationals in a state of constant fear. We should be clear-eyed and unambiguous: this is a welcome development. Israel is striking not only to defend itself but to undermine one of the most repressive systems on Earth. If Evin's walls are breached and its victims walk free, that will be a day of liberation, for Iranians and for the foreign hostages whose only crime was to enter a country run by sadistic, ruthless hostage-takers. Earlier in the week it was reported that French President Emmanuel Macron had called on the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to release the two French citizens of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, denouncing their 'inhumane detention.' France, of course, is not alone. Citizens of the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Canada, the United States and others have also been taken by the regime in Iran – journalists, activists, academics, tourists – all swept into a system of arbitrary detention that has become a defining feature of the Islamic theocracy's foreign relations. Kohler, a literature teacher, and her partner Jacques Paris, a retired mathematics teacher, were arrested in 2022 while visiting Iran as tourists. Authorities loyal to the regime accused them of espionage and broadcast a forced confession video shortly after their arrest. The French government has consistently rejected the charges, insisting the pair were innocent travellers. After the US struck Iran, Macron called for the most European of demands: 'de-escalation and maximum restraint' and 'a return to the diplomatic path', but Israel's latest approach might prove more productive. These detainees remain imprisoned, almost always with little to no contact, enduring conditions their families describe as torture. Their relatives have grown increasingly frustrated, warning that high-level diplomacy has failed to secure even basic humanitarian relief, but Macron's demands have at least draw overdue attention back to the issue of foreign nationals imprisoned without due process. Iran's regime strategy of hostage-taking serves multiple aims. It provides leverage in negotiations. It intimidates dissidents and dual nationals abroad. And it signals to the world that the Islamic Republic does not recognise the basic norms of sovereignty, legality or human dignity. To speak of Iran under the Islamic regime as a state actor among others, merely difficult or obstinate, is to misunderstand it. It is an adversarial power that does not merely reject the rules-based international order, it seeks to undermine and replace it with a logic of fear and submission. The regime in Tehran does not act in isolation. It is emboldened by years of impunity The stories are harrowing. Ahmad Reza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian academic, sentenced to death on fabricated charges, kept in solitary confinement for years. Olivier Vandecasteele, a Belgian humanitarian, given 28 years following a sham trial. Nahid Taghavi, a German-Iranian women's rights advocate, whose health is failing in prison. The mutilated corpse of Jamshid 'Jimmy' Sharmahd was recently returned to his family after the German‑Iranian journalist and software engineer had been abducted by Islamic Republic agents from Dubai in July 2020, and reportedly held in Evin prison, enduring years of torture and the denial of medical care. He was murdered in October 2024, with neither the USA nor Germany having made appropriate efforts to free him and the other hostages. The regime in Tehran does not act in isolation. It is emboldened by years of impunity. Western governments have, for too long, attempted to resolve these abductions quietly, bilaterally and often secretively. The impulse is understandable: protect the hostages, avoid provocation, preserve diplomacy. But it has failed. Indeed, it has encouraged more detentions. The Islamic regime in Iran has learned that the West will negotiate, will relent, will pay. And so it has continued. The nuclear file is not separate from the human rights file. A regime that tortures academics and tourists cannot be trusted with uranium enrichment. A state that broadcasts forced confessions cannot be relied upon to honour international agreements. The Islamic Republic regime poses a strategic and moral threat not just to its neighbours, not just to the West, but to the world. It is in this light that the boldness of Israel's ongoing actions must be understood. Confronted with an existential threat, surrounded by proxies of the Islamic Republic, and under direct threat from a regime that openly declares its intent to destroy it, Israel has acted with clarity. The broader international community must now catch up, if not for Israel's sake, for its own, and in defence of the principle that civilians are not bargaining chips. The Islamic republic has proven itself time and again to be a hostile regime waging asymmetric war against the civilised world. The time for unity, for strength, and for moral clarity has come. The prisoners in Evin, in Kerman, in undisclosed cells across Iran, deserve nothing less.
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
British couple detained in Iran while on motorcycle journey around the world
A British couple have reportedly been detained Iran during their motorcycle journey around the world. Craig and Lindsay Foreman were reportedly held in January but the country's state-run media revealed this week they had been accused of security-related offences. In an Instagram post, Mrs Foreman had acknowledged that travelling to Iran, against Foreign Office advice, was 'slightly scary' but adding: 'Yes, we're aware of the risks. But we also know the rewards of meeting incredible people, hearing their stories, and seeing the breathtaking landscapes of these regions could far outweigh the fear.' The couple were ultimately heading for Australia, having crossed into Iran from Armenia on December 30, according to social media posts. Mrs Foreman was said to be carrying out a research project as part of the journey, asking people what constitutes a 'good life'. The latest post on Mr Foreman's Facebook page, from Isfahan in Iran, also on January 3, displays a number of selfies apparently showing the couple, along with the caption: 'What a wonderful place'. And now the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has said the Government must act 'more promptly' than it did to help free his wife when she was detained in 2016. Richard Ratcliffe said the dangers of travelling to the Middle Eastern country would be 'a lot clearer' if Foreign Office travel advice reflected 'the risks of hostage-taking' there. Mr Ratcliffe, who went on hunger strike twice as part of his campaign for his wife's release, said a court process may soon come 'to get the Government's attention'. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested on April 3 2016 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran after a holiday visit. She was ultimately released and returned to the UK six years later after the UK agreed to settle a historic £400 million debt dating to the 1970s. Mr Ratcliffe told the PA news Agency: 'My heart goes out to them, and I hope they are not in for a long ordeal, and that the Government is able to respond more promptly than it did in our case. 'I do think the risks would be a lot clearer to people if the UK travel advice to Iran talked about the risks of hostage-taking. People would be more alert to the fact that it is not personal, and it doesn't matter whether you have travelled there with a good heart. 'The top priority for the Government should be to make sure they get to visit and that they are not being kept in solitary. It will be important they do not feel alone. A court process may soon come. It's not a real court. But it will be a form of brutal theatre to get the Government's attention. And it will hurt much the same. I really hope they will be ok.' The Foreign Office advises against all travel to Iran. 'Having a British passport or connections to the UK can be reason enough for the Iranian authorities to detain you,' the guidance says. A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We are providing consular assistance to two British nationals detained in Iran and are in contact with the local authorities.'
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
British ambassador to Iran meets two Britons detained on security-related charges
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The British ambassador to Iran met with two Britons — a man and a woman — being held in Iran on security-related charges, the official IRNA news agency reported. The report late Wednesday said Ambassador Hugo Shorter met the two in the southern Iranian city of Kerman and in the presence of officials from the justice department and the governor's office. The report neither identifies them nor elaborates on the time or place of their detention, though it calls them 'suspects," suggesting they have not been sentenced and were possibly detained in recent weeks. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. IRNA published two images that showed the two sitting opposite the ambassador at a meeting table. 'We are providing consular assistance to two British Nationals detained in Iran and are in contact with the local authorities," a spokesperson of the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, or FCDO, said in a statement to The Associated Press. The statement added that the FCDO has long advised against travel to Iran for British and British-Iranian nationals, who face significant risk of detention. Iran has a history of detaining and releasing western nationals on security charges. The country has long been accused of holding those with Western ties as prisoners to be used as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West. Iran denies those accusations. In 2022, Iran released British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe after more than five years. She had been sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of plotting to overthrow Iran's government, a charge that she, her supporters and rights groups denied.
