A British mother who has been detained in Iran for almost seven weeks has been moved out of solitary confinement and told she will be allowed to see a lawyer.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 37, a charity worker from Hampstead, was arrested on 3 April by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at an airport after visiting her family on holiday. Her 22-month-old daughter Gabriella was separated from her and has been staying with her grandparents in Tehran.
Her husband Richard Ratcliffe, who has been campaigning for her release, today confirmed that his wife has been moved to a group cell and will have access to legal advice.
“This is huge progress,” he said. “She’s out of solitary confinement and will be able to see a lawyer. It all feels very positive.” Last week, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project coordinator for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was allowed to see her daughter.
She told her family that she had been forced to sign a confession relating to a matter of “national security”.
Mr Ratcliffe set up a petition on change.org calling for his wife’s release, which has now more than 500,000 signatures. He was today delivering the petition to No 10 along with his local MP Tulip Siddiq.
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