British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran on new hunger strike

A British-Iranian woman jailed in Tehran for more than three years has begun a new hunger strike to protest against her detention, her husband announced on Saturday.

Speaking outside the Iranian Embassy in London, Richard Ratcliffe said Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had told judicial officials in June she would refuse food but would drink water until she was granted unconditional release.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who worked for the charity arm of news agency Thomson Reuters, was detained in April 2016 on charges of plotting against the Iranian government. She was convicted of spying and sentenced to serve five years in Tehran's Evin Prison.

She and her family have denied the allegations.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport as she prepared to board a plane with her daughter  to return home.

Ratcliffe said he would hold a vigil outside the embassy and fast in support of his wife, who previously went on a six-day hunger strike in 2016 and a three-day hunger strike last January. Ratcliffe said the new hunger strike is "open-ended."

On a petition website dedicated to freeing his wife, Ratcliffe said she has "long been eligible" for an unconditional release.

Ratcliffe said she decided to go on a new hunger strike following her daughter's fifth birthday on June 11. Gabriella, who was born in the U.K., has not been allowed to leave Iran and is living with her grandparents. Her mother said they were in Iran to visit family.

"This is something she had been threatening for a while. Nazanin had vowed that if we passed Gabriella's fifth birthday with her still inside, then she would do something — to mark to both governments — that enough is enough. This really has gone on too long," he said on the petition page.

High-level diplomatic attempts to secure Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release have so far failed.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt granted 40-year-old Zaghari-Ratcliffe diplomatic protection in March, but Iranian officials refuse to recognize her dual nationality.

Reacting to the news that she had begun a hunger strike, Hunt on Saturday sent a message to Iran via Twitter, urging the Iranian government to "do the right thing, show the world your humanity & let this innocent woman home."