British-Iranian Charity Worker Ends 15-Day Hunger Strike in Iran Jail

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation who is in jail in Iran, has ended her hunger strike after 15 days, her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, announced on Saturday. Ratcliffe fasted concurrently with his wife in front of the Iranian embassy in London and said that more than 100 MPs, including Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, had visited him to “show solidarity” with his wife. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in April 2016 at Tehran’s airport as she was returning to the United Kingdom with her then-22-month-old daughter from a family visit. Iran sentenced her to five years in jail for alleged espionage, accusations denied by herself, her family and the Thomson Reuters Foundation. At the onset of her hunger strike, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted to the Islamic Republic: “Do the right thing, show the world your humanity and let this innocent woman home.” Before the hunger strike began, Hunt had accused Iran of being responsible for attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, an allegation the Islamic Republic denies.