Festival play highlights plight of British woman jailed in Iran

The play - “Looking for Mummy: Nazanin’s Story”, which is being performed at the Edinburgh Fringe during 20-27 August - tells the true story of the 38-year-old British charity worker’s arrest while on a family holiday in Iran last year and her anguish at being sentenced to five years in jail after an unfair trial.

The play, by Emi Howell, uses Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s own words as well as those of her husband, Richard, who has staged a high-profile campaign calling for her release.

In particular, Looking for Mummy highlights the separation of Zaghari-Ratcliffe from her three-year-old daughter Gabriella. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a UK-Iranian dual national, saw her daughter taken away from her after her arrest and Gabriella is currently being looked after by her grandparents in Iran and only able to visit her mother in Evin Prison in Tehran twice a week.

Earlier this month, during a visit to Iran, Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt reportedly raised Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case alongside that of other UK-Iranian dual nationals detained in Iran, including Kamal Foroughi, a 77-year-old businessman. Amnesty has repeatedly called on the UK government to insist on the immediate release of both Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Foroughi, though ministers have never publicly called for Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release and have only rarely mentioned the need for Foroughi to be freed.

Richard Ratcliffe said: “Our story is the stuff of nightmares - a family holiday to visit relatives abruptly ending - in prison, isolation and crazy charges; the days become months with seemingly no way out.”

Naomi McAuliffe, Amnesty International’s Scotland programme director, said: “Nazanin’s story is truly horrific which is why we are campaigning throughout the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year to free her and fellow British-Iranian Kamal Foroughi, who is also imprisoned in Iran under very dubious circumstances.

“We want to see Nazanin and Kamal reunited with their families and will continue to campaign until this is a reality. We are delighted that Looking For Mummy: Nazanin’s Story has been longlisted for this year’s Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award.”