Jailed mum Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe suffering from PTSD attacks following Iran propaganda reports
FRESH health fears for the British mum jailed in Iran were revealed last night after she had a Post Traumatic Stress attack upon seeing herself on Iranian TV news.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was examined by a Health commissioner last weekend after she collapsed at the latest media reports on her case.
The 38-year-old charity worker is suffering from uncontrollable mood swings, depression, insomnia and episodes of anger after spending more than 600 days in jail on charges of spying against the state.
She has also said she is feeling suicidal due to the ongoing propaganda campaign being waged on her though the Iranian media.
The mum-of-one is facing new charges - including joining organisations working to topple the regime - which could add 16 years to her sentence.
They have also tried to get her to confess to training journalists, her family has said.
Nazanin was arrested at Tehran airport in 2016 following a family holiday with her husband and young daughter Gabriella.
She is reported to have told psychiatrists: "I am being victimised along with my daughter, can you not see this?”
Nazanin had also told relatives: “It is torture to keep hearing these lies on TV. I get very agitated by all the press attention in Iran."
The distressed Mum was found NOT to have breast cancer earlier this month after prolonged fears for her health.
She is now being assessed as to whether she is fit to remain in prison at all.
A programme on state TV on Thursday claimed to show a BBC pay cheque and an email from 2010 showing she once trained Iranian journalists — as the regime accuses her of trying to topple its brutal regime.
A prison doctor told her she had suffered from a "PTSD attack on Thursday following the latest TV broadcast".
Upon seeing the reports she fell off her chair, became unable to breathe, and was unable to stand or walk to see a doctor.
Nazanin's husband Richard Ratcliffe said the shock claims were propaganda and lies to weaken British officials' bargaining position as they attempt to secure her release.
He added: “I think it is spectacularly unlikely she will have a fair trial.”
She was said to be “suicidal” after a blunder by Boris Johnson in which he incorrectly told MPs she had been in the country "teaching journalism".
The Foreign Secretary later issued a firm correction and apologised.
Timeline of Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe's torment
- Nazanin, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was jailed for five years in April last year after being convicted of plotting to overthrow the Iranian regime.
- She denied the charges saying she was on holiday taking her daughter, 3, to meet the girl's grandparents.She was due for possible early release in late 2017 or early 2018.
- But in October Nazanin was told she faced new charges with prosecutors alleging she joined organisations including the BBC which specifically worked to overthrow the government.
- The Foreign Secretary then told a parliamentary inquiry on November 1 that Nazanin had been teaching journalism when she was originally arrested.
- Iranian state TV used these comments as apparent proof of her guilt.Nazanin was later taken to an unscheduled court hearing where she was threatened with another five years in prison.
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Iran is believed to be holding out on Nazanin's release over an apparent outstanding bill of £400million for Chieftain tanks that were never delivered because of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
But a spokesman for Theresa May said: "We are clear we don’t see any link between these two issues".