UK: daughter of British man jailed in Iran calls on Government to ‘save my dad’

The daughter of a UK national jailed in Iran has issued an emotional “save my dad” appeal to the UK government ahead of Father’s Day this Sunday.

Elika Ashoori, 34, made the comments as part of her family’s campaign to secure the release of her 67-year-old father – retired engineer Anoosheh Ashoori, a UK-Iranian dual-national who has been arbitrarily detained in Iran for almost four years. 

Mr Ashoori’s adult children – Elika and Aryan – and his wife Sherry Izadi, who lives in south London, are calling on the UK government to extend “diplomatic protection” to Ashoori, which means his case would become the subject of an official dispute between the UK and Iran. 

Amnesty is supporting the family’s efforts, with more than 30,000 people backing Amnesty’s “Free Anoosheh” campaign. High-profile figures like Olivia Colman, Nazanin Boniadi and Shaparak Khorsandi have also drawn attention to the case as part of wider campaigning for other UK nationals held in Iran, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Elika Ashoori explained the painful nature of the day and similar family occasions:

“Each year that goes by, a little bit of hope dies along with it. A year of life that never comes back, a year our family could have been together but missed forever.

“I try not to even dwell on the big days anymore. The less I focus on Father’s Day, birthdays or Christmas, the less painful it is to go through them.

“I see signs, newsletters and shop adverts everywhere saying, ‘Treat your dad this Father’s Day’, or ‘Have you told your dad you love him this Father’s Day?’, and there is no way to cope with these constant reminders other than to try really, really hard to ignore them.

“I’ve almost run out of things to say to the Government – it feels like ministers and officials are just not listening. My one plea though is that they grant my father diplomatic protection. It’s perhaps the one way they can save my dad.”

Read the complete article at: Amnesty

Also Read: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: PM demands ‘immediate release’ of British-Iranian woman

 

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