In My View: Janet Daby, MP for Lewisham East – Empty promises will not cut it

Come August, it will have been four years since my constituent Anoosheh Ashoori was kidnapped off an Iranian street and imprisoned on a contrived espionage charge.

He has been detained ever since in Evin Prison, which is notorious for the physical and psychological torture inflicted upon its inmates.

It has been my privilege to learn about Anoosheh’s life through conversations with his wife, Sherry.

The impression I have been given is of a loving family man, selfless, empathetic and utterly devoted to his children, Elika and Aryan.

No one deserves the treatment Anoosheh has been subjected to, but his case is especially frustrating due to a lack of Government action on his behalf.

Like fellow Evin Prison inmate Nazanin Zaghari-Radcliffe, Anoosheh is a dual-national, with both British and Iranian citizenship. But unlike Nazanin, this Government has not afforded him diplomatic protection.

I recently wrote to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, calling for this essential protective status to be extended to my constituent.

His response was disappointing; despite promising to consider diplomatic protection, there was no commitment to a time-frame in which this decision might be made.

At 67 years old, Anoosheh is particularly vulnerable to the conditions of Evin Prison, and in April was reported to be suffering from Covid symptoms. As Sherry told me, “Every day that the Government delays its decision, our concerns for Anoosheh’s health grow”.

Empty promises will not cut it – he requires urgent support.

Despite testimony from Iranian officials, the Government continues to insist that there is no connection between the imprisonment of British citizens such as Anoosheh and an historic £40million debt we owe to Iran.

This is nonsense, and there are various ways we could pay off this debt – through humanitarian aid, for instance, or via the provision of Covid vaccines which Iran desperately needs.

Anoosheh is a victim of diplomatic breakdown, being held hostage by a state with a dreadful record on human rights.

He must be given diplomatic protection immediately – it is the least we owe him.

In the meantime, those close to him continue to fight to see Anoosheh freed.

As Sherry told me, “After four years of imposed separation, all we want is to have Anoosheh back with his family, who miss him beyond words can express.”