EX-Farnham school boy Richard Ratcliffe is fighting for the release of his wife Nazanin who has been detained in Iran for unknown reasons – his daughter also remains with family in Iran after her passport was seized by authorities.

Richard, 41, who grew up in Ewshot, attended school at St George’s in Castle Street and played for Farnham Rugby club.

His wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 37, holds dual nationality both British and Iranian, and works as a project manager for the Thomson Reuters Charity Foundation in London.

Nazanin and the couple’s 22-month-old daughter Gabriella, were visiting family in Iran with return flights booked for Sunday, April 3. However upon arrival at Tehran airport she was detained by authorities, who family members have labelled the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

She has since been transferred to an unknown location in Kerman Province, 1,000 kilometres south of Tehran and is being held in solitary confinement.

Gabriella was returned to her grandparents where she is currently, however her passport was seized. The pair alongside their daughter frequently travel to Tehran, and Nazanin’s parents often visit them in the UK, which is why family members are even more confused as to why she has now been detained.

Richard speaks to Gabriella daily over Skype, but is unable to travel to Iran at this moment as he doesn’t have a visa and he is unable to get Gabriella out of Iran as the authorities have her passport.

Nicky Ratcliffe, Richard’s sister-in-law, said: “She is being held in solitary confinement without charge for over 40 days now, only taken from her cell for interrogation. If she co-operates she is allowed to call her parents once every four days.

“The calls are of course closely monitored so Nazanin and her parents have to be very careful what she says, never criticising her treatment. She has been allowed one visit from her parents and Gabriella.

“When seeing Gabriella, they clung to each other for 15 minutes. It would have been heart-breaking when the visit ended and Nazanin was taken back to where ever they are holding her.

“However we are now growing more concerned as Nazanin is being coerced into signing a confession to which she is not allowed to know the contents, other than ‘national security’.”

It is for this reason the family have gone public, creating a petition (www.freenazanin.com) to ask the Prime Minister for his support and to raise awareness with more than 480,000 supporters so far.

“It is not clear to us why the authorities in Iran have suddenly decided Nazanin is a threat to national security, to us she is simply a wife, daughter, mother and part of our family and we want to get her and Gabriella home safe. It is all beyond all of our imaginations, a dreadful situation” added Nicky.

Richard has begun putting his words onto paper, an open door for people to listen and become part of the fight to get Nazanin back.

He highlighted that it is such a “powerful” and “uplifting” feeling that so many people care about what happens to Nazanin and Gabriella, believing it is that what will help bring them home.

He said: “The past week I have been in my own bubble – of interviews and press, telling Nazanin’s story to whoever I could - to cameras and reporters all around the world.

“It is Nazanin’s parents and siblings who are looking after Gabriella, and waiting by the phone for good or bad news from the authorities,

“They carry a burden in a much more immediate sense than me. They remain unsure of my wisdom in speaking out, and what it could bring. And they have aged visibly these past few weeks.

“When I spoke to her father he wanted to tell me that Nazanin had been allowed to call them, and she had asked him to be her voice to me. He wished to say it precisely ‘that I should know I am with her in her dreams every night, that it is while she is so far away she realises just how much she misses me, and that she looks forward to coming home’.”

“He also wanted to tell me that Nazanin had been allowed to call her parents yesterday, and he asked her father to be her voice to me. He wished to say it precisely ‘that I should know I am with her in her dreams every night, that it is while she is so far away she realises just how much she misses me, and that she looks forward to her coming home’.”

The family wanted to highlight the level of Foreign Office support for them, a spokesperson for the Foreign Office, said: “We have been providing support to Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family since we were first informed of her arrest and will continue to do so.”

The petition was taken to Downing Street last week asking the government to do more. Richard was accompanied by his parents, Nazanin’s boss at Thomson Reuters Foundation, Monique Villa, Nazanin’s MP Tulip Siddiq, Change.org, and the son of Kamal Foroughi, who is leading a similar campaign on behalf of his 76-year-old father.