Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Feeling ‘Strong Sense Of Trepidation’ Ahead Of Hunger Strike Tomorrow

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, of Hampstead in north London, was sentenced to five years in jail after being accused of spying, a charge she strongly denies.

She spent her 40th birthday on Boxing Day in prison, where she has been detained for more than 1,000 

Richard told HuffPost UK the milestone birthday has “loomed large for her in recent months – partly for the landmark of not wanting to turn 40 alone in a prison cell, still denied watching her baby grow up, but increasingly wondering whether they will keep her so long that she is also denied having a second child.”

Ratcliffe was able to speak to his wife on Christmas Day, reporting she sounded “flat”, but informing him that the women prisoners had held midnight Christmas prayers for the French and British prisoners, with some other religious minorities also joining.   

The charity worker’s four-year-old daughter Gabriella has been staying with family in Iran since Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was detained.

Her husband Richard Ratcliffe has mounted a high-profile campaign for his wife’s release.