Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British charity administrator detained in Iran, has spoken of her desolation at the impending end of weekly visits from her five-year-old daughter who is set to return to the United Kingdom.
Gabriella was with her mother when she was held by authorities in April 2016 as the pair prepared to fly home to the UK after a visit to Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s parents in Iran.
The British-Iranian dual national was subsequently jailed for five years for unspecified espionage offences. Her supporters say she has become a pawn in political game between Iran and the UK.
Her daughter has been allowed weekly visits to see her in Tehran’s Evin jail but her family plan to send her to the UK to go to school, according to an open letter from Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe released by a US-based charity.
Her husband, Richard, confirmed the plans and said Gabriella would leave in the next couple of months although her travel has not been approved by Iranian authorities.
Mr Ratcliffe has not seen his daughter since his wife’s arrest after Tehran refused his repeated requests for a visa. The child has been staying with her grandparents in Iran throughout her mother’s ordeal.
“I am a desolate mother ready to burn like a desert dune when her baby leaves, unable to see any light in this tunnel without end,” said Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 40, in the letter from Evin prison.
“I have no hope or motivation after my baby goes. There is no measure to my pain.”
She added: “Even now I cannot imagine any politics that justifies separating a mother from her baby.
“Even now I remain a pawn in the hands of politicians – abroad and in Iran – to reach their goals in their games of chess.
“Some have used every opportunity these past years to use a mother and baby as political leverage.”
Mr Ratcliffe has fought a vocal campaign for his wife’s release unlike other relatives who have sought the path of quiet diplomacy.
But with few signs of either strategy working, families have increasingly joined forces to pressure governments to take more assertive action.
Mr Ratcliffe was part of a group who used the backdrop of the UN General Assembly last month to urge their governments to declare a hostage crisis.