Former inmate reveals horrors of Iranian prison where Brit mum Nazanin is held as Foreign Office sends direct appeal to regime after Boris gaffe
A former inmate of the Iranian prison where British mum Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being held has described it as a "black hole of human-made evil" where women are regularly tortured.
The harrowing account came as the Foreign Office tweeted in defence of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe after being pressured to do so by the Brit’s family.
Marina Nemat was held for two years in Evin prison in Tehran in 1982 when she was just 16, after being accused of criticising the Iranian regime.
In an , she revealed that she was regularly tortured by guards who lashed her bare feet with cables.
Ms Nemat, now in her 50s and living in Canada, fears that torture still takes place in the prison, but offered hope to the Brit saying that "she just needs to hang in there because it will come to an end".
Accusations of sexual assault, violence and beatings have plagued the prison for years and a photographer was reportedly beaten to death there in 2003.
Amnesty International has previously condemned Evin for denying its inmates food and medical care.
British mum of one Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to 5 years in the prison in 2016 for allegedly trying to topple the Iranian regime.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was criticised this week for incorrectly claiming that she was in the country training journalists, when she was in fact on holiday.
The gaffe has been seized on by Iranian TV as proof of her illegal activity, and has led to calls for Boris to resign.
It is feared that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has already spent months in solitary confinement at the prison, will see her sentence extended another five years as a result of Boris’ statement.
Britain’s ambassador to Iran, Nicholas Hopton, yesterday tweeted that the "UK government has no doubt Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was on holiday in Iran when she was arrested last year" in an effort to clear up any confusion.
The Sun understands that the ambassador’s tweet in Farsi and English was sent following a personal request from Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin.
