Iranian authorities “have reacted” to campaigning and given Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe a blood test in prison amid fears she has contracted coronavirus, her husband revealed today.
The British-Iranian mother, 41, has spent four years in Tehran’s Evin prison on espionage charges which she denies.
She has had flu-like symptoms for days and her husband Richard Ratcliffe is “sure” she has contracted coronavirus in the jail, where there have been reports of three cases and rumours of a death last week in its clinic.
Mr Ratcliffe, 45, who lives with their daughter Gabriella, five, in West Hampstead, said the Tehran authorities “had reacted” following worldwide publicity about Nazanin’s illness.
He said: “She told her brother this morning that she still has symptoms: body pain, temperature, cough, difficulty breathing. I think they were stable. She had been taken for a blood test.
“It’s definitely a good sign there is some movement but do I trust the Iranian authorities? No.”
Iran has reported 978 confirmed cases and 54 deaths from the virus, with accurate figures suspected to be far higher.
Mr Ratcliffe told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “The Government should be clear that the protection of British citizens being held unfairly in Iran has to be maintained and they have to be tested and treated.”
Mr Ratcliffe later said his wife’s family confirmed she had not been tested for coronavirus.
He does not now believe there has been any progress in testing, and urged the government to keep up the pressure on Iran.
