Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht, 47, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, was arrested in the south-western city of Shiraz last year for “insulting Islamic sanctities”, a crime which can be punishable by death. According to her husband, who is also British, she made a series of statements online about life in Iran before being detained.
Mark Hunter, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cheadle, said: “I think everybody recognises we are dealing with a very difficult regime here. In any normal country, saying something that’s impolite about the government or the state would not necessarily result in you being thrown in prison for five months, but that appears to be what’s happened here. If so, it’s a development that frankly we should all be extremely concerned about.”
The Independent understands that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has made contact with the Iranian authorities, which has promised to investigate Mrs Nobakht’s case urgently. But diplomatic efforts have been hampered by Britain’s lack of an embassy in Tehran.
“The fact that we don’t have diplomatic representation there makes the issue altogether more complicated,” Mr Hunter said. “What the FCO has sought is consular access to Roya so they can see for themselves how she’s being looked after, because she is in a fairly notorious prison in Iran and, according to her family, has lost 3lb in weight.
“If and when we do get granted consular access, that will be through one of our European partners. That’s what we’re hoping to achieve in the very near future.”
Mrs Nobakht has lived in Britain with her husband Daryoush Taghipoor for the past six years. Both have dual UK-Iranian nationality.
An FCO spokesperson said: “We are aware of the detention of a British national in Iran. We are urgently seeking clarification from the Iranian authorities.”
British Woman Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht Held In Iran For 'Insulting Islam' On Facebook
The Huffington Post UK | Posted: 03/04/2014 08:10 BST | Updated:03/04/2014 08:59 BST
A British woman jailed in Iran fears she may be executed for insulting the Iranian government on Facebook, after she was arrested five months ago, accused of being a spy.
Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht, from Stockport, was arrested as she stepped off a plane in the provincial city of Shiraz and accused of being a spy, her husband Daryoush Taghipoor told the Manchester Evening News.
The 47-year-old is being held on suspicion of plotting to commit crimes against security and insulting Islam. Taghipoor said it is over comments she made on Facebook about the Iranian government being "too Islamic".
The charge is "insulting Islamic sanctities", which can carry the death penalty. She is being held in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran, where several political prisoners have been held.
Roya, an English student at Stockport College, is a naturalised British citizen who had gone to visit family in Iran in October. Two weeks into her trip, she took an internal flight to Shiraz to see a friend, and was arrested.
Taghipoor told the paper his wife had lost three stone due to stress.
“It’s a very bad situation. We don’t know what’s going on. Roya is not well at all. She has lost three stone and is frightened. She is scared that the government will kill her.”
Roya travelled to Tehran to see family in October last year. About two weeks into the trip she flew to Shiraz to visit a friend and was arrested at the airport.
“Roya is not a political activist in any way. She is just a normal citizen. The authorities don’t clarify why she has been arrested and Daryoush insists the charges are based on a confession extracted from Roya under duress.
"The government needs to do all that us feasible to get the release of this innocent British citizen.”
The British Embassy is closed in Iran, after the building was attacked by protesters in 2011, but the Foreign Office told the Independent newspaper it is "urgently" looking into her case.
Amnesty International's Iran researcher Bahareh Davis said: "If Roya Saberi Nejad Nobakht has been held solely for peacefully exercising her right to freedom of expression she must be released immediately and unconditionally.
"Regrettably, vaguely-worded and broadly-defined crimes such as 'gathering and colluding against national security' and 'insulting the Islamic sanctities', for which she appears to have been held, are often used by the Iranian authorities to curb those who peacefully express their opinions, including criticising the government."
