Family of British man jailed in Iran stage ‘empty chair’ protest opposite Downing Street

Anoosheh Ashoori’s son Aryan, his wife Sherry Izadi and his daughter Elika
Amnesty International
Leah Sinclair13 August 2021

The family of a British man arbitrarily jailed in Iran held a protest on Friday urging the Prime Minister to meet them on the four-year anniversary of his sentence.

Anoosheh Ashoori was visiting his elderly mother in Tehran when he was arrested in August 2017 and detained in Evin prison.

Mr Ashoori has been subjected to torture, repeatedly interrogated without a lawyer present and forced to sign "confessions" while sleep deprived, according to Amnesty International.

To mark four years since his imprisonment, Mr Ashoori’s wife, daughter, son and his local MP met outside Downing Street with an empty chair to symbolise Mr Johnson’s failure to meet them to discuss the case of the retired engineer.

In the empty chair was a large sign which said: “Prime Minister: why won’t you meet us?”

The family were joined by Janet Daby MP, Amnesty CEO Sacha Deshmukh and Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been released from prison but remains trapped in Iran despite completing her five-year sentence.

The family said despite assurances from officials that Mr Ashoori’s case is a “top priority” for the UK government, his family have been unable to secure a meeting with the Prime Minister.

With Mr Ashoori’s health deteriorating after four years in prison, the family have written to No10 via Ms Daby, urgently seeking a meeting - a call backed by Amnesty International, which has also formally written to the Prime Minister about the case.

Mr Ashoori’s wife Sherry Izadi said: “The four-year anniversary of Anoosheh’s unlawful detention is not the kind of anniversary we want to celebrate.

“Instead of celebrating birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and Christmases, our life has become an endless and sad cycle of missed milestones.

Sherry Izadi
Amnesty International

“Our only wish is for this terrible ordeal to end and for Anoosheh to return home to his family who miss him beyond words can express.”

In a statement to the Standard, Ms Izaidi added that the purpose of this protest and the campaign is to “put pressure on the PM to meet us”.

“The PM has never publicly acknowledged our case, he has never mentioned Anoosheh by name, has never officially mentioned him or reached out to us as the family of a British citizen held hostage in another country,” she said.

“We hope that we delivered a loud and clear message to Mr Johnson as to why he should meet us and give Anoosheh the attention he deserves.”

More than 40,000 people have supported Amnesty’s “Free Anoosheh” campaign in a bid to help the father to return home to his family.

In a statement, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called for Iran to allow Mr Ashoori to return to the UK

He said: “Iran’s continued detention of Anoosheh Ashoori is wholly unjustified.

“We call on Iran to end his suffering and allow him to return home to be reunited with his wife Sherry, and children, Aryan and Elika.”

Mr Raab said the government was doing everything they could to “secure the release of Anoosheh” alongside other dual British nationals who have been arbitrarily detained.

He added: “We call on President Raisi’s administration to start to set a new course for Iran by releasing them.”

Number 10 has been approached for comment.

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