FRIENDS and family of a British/Iranian woman incarcerated in Iran presented a large card to the Iranian Embassy last Friday as they celebrated her 23-month-old daughter’s birthday in Hyde Park, London.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 37, who works as a project manager for the Thomson-Reuters Foundation, was detained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on April 3, as she waited for her flight back to the UK after visiting family in Iran.

Her husband ex-Farnham boy Richard Ratcliffe, 41, who grew up in Ewshot, attended school at St George’s in Castle Street and played for Farnham Rugby club, has been campaigning for her release ever since.

After being detained Nazanin was transferred to an unknown location in Kerman Province, 1,000 kilometres south of Tehran and put in solitary confinement with no charges.

Her daughter, Gabriella Ratcliffe, who only has British citizenship, has had her British passport confiscated and is stranded in Iran with her grandparents.

Nazanin has only recently been able to call out of the country to speak to Richard. She has been required to sign a confession under duress, its content unknown. All that the family know is that the investigation relates to an issue of “national security”.

Richard, who spoke to Nazanin after weeks of no contact, said: “Nazanin was careful not to talk about her case or the subject of her interrogations, it was good to hear her voice - it felt like another small step forwards.

“But I had not quite expected her to be so sad or for me to be afterwards, as I better understood what she is going through. The good news is that her physical strength is returning. It turns out she had not been able to stand up when she had the family visit.

“When she first came out of solitary she used to have blackouts whenever she tried to walk. Now she is able to walk for 45 minutes every morning after the 6.30am inspection, before the sun gets too high.

“Her hair is no longer falling out, or no longer at the same rate. She is also better able to keep clean. Nazanin was always very particular on cleanliness – these days our flat reflects her absence.”

Richard noted that the prison often has no hot water for 12 hours a day, and the food has got worse with Nazanin losing around five kilograms while in solitary confinement. The highlight of her day, she said, is going to the mosque.

She is now in the general cells of the women’s wing of Kerman central prison, along with 400 other women inmates, only some of whom have any expectation of leaving.

There is a chance for friendships, for people to have a cup of tea with and to hear their stories. Prisons in Iran are full of interesting people, she says it has been a real education what some have endured, and that some of the prison guards are kind.

“She has not seen her interrogators since she was moved out of solitary. Perhaps that is a good sign. No one else in the prison is allowed to know what is happening in her case, not even the prison manager. So there is no one to ask” added Richard.

Following Richard going public, Nazanin was allowed one family visit by her parents and daughter on May 11, staged at a hotel in Kerman. Her family were not allowed to discuss with her anything relating to the investigation, or the conditions of where she is kept.

They were not allowed to take in their phones or a camera. The family were informed that the visit was not standard, and was organised solely for the benefit of Gabriella to see her mother.

Family members would like to say a “huge thank you to the Farnham folk for the support received” and ask everyone to continue sharing and spreading the word of the petition www.freenazanin.com, which currently has over three quarters of a million signatures.

The Free Nazanin Campaign celebrated Gabriella’s second birthday by the Iranian Embassy in Hyde Park.

In the weeks prior to Gabriella’s birthday, Richard’s family organised a birthday card campaign to appeal for people to send birthday cards via their nearest Iranian Embassy - at least 2,000 birthday cards and a few presents were sent.