Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is to write a memoir about her years in prison in Iran – and about the campaign to get her home.
The West Hampstead mum will write the book with her husband Richard, who campaigned and lobbied the UK government throughout her captivity.
On April 3, 2016, about to board a flight home, dual citizen Nazanin was taken away from her baby, Gabriella, and arrested at Tehran airport.
She spent six years held hostage in prison, accused of acting against the Iranian state.
Throughout that time, Richard campaigned for her release, using protests and hunger strikes, backed by friends and supporters, to demand action from a series of prime ministers and foreign secretaries.
In March, the family were finally reunited in the UK after a historical £400 million debt owed by this country to Iran for undelivered tanks was settled.
Nazanin said: "Every single one of us has a story to tell. My story as a hostage is unique, but it is also the story of many other women in Iran in prison who are unknown but have helped me enormously to go through this journey and come out of it stronger.
"My story is a story of my own uncertainty, fear, faith, survival, hope and love but also the story of unity and solidarity from so many others. Their struggles continue today.’
Richard said: "Parts of our story were always on TV, but some of the most important parts got missed. I’m glad to be able to share it all. Six years on our story feels like a discovery of the darker sides of governments, and of the kinder sides of people, but also across all the twists and turns simply how we survived. It took a village to get Nazanin home. I am really glad we have a happy ending to share.’
In September 2016, a judge handed Nazanin a five-year sentence without revealing the charges, and committed her to the high security wing of the notorious Evin Prison.
A month later she was dragged back to court to face new charges, and by then it was apparent she was being held as a bargaining chip.
The UK was embroiled in a dispute about the sale of tanks that had been agreed with Iran in the early 1970s, and which was then cancelled when the Shah's regime fell.
Nazanin went on hunger strike and suffered panic attacks, all the while appealing and protesting her innocence.
She was dragged back to court in 2017 after Boris Johnson, then foreign minister, mistakenly told a group of MPs she was in Iran training journalists.
Iranian Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights claimed that Mr Johnson’s comments were proof that Nazanin was not in Iran on holiday.
Richard went on hunger strike in solidarity with his wife, and then again in 2021, in a bid to force the UK government to act.
In August 2018, Nazanin was temporarily released from prison after 873 days, and was reunited with her four-year-old daughter, but days later she was ordered to return to Evin where she collapsed.
In 2019 Nazanin was finally allowed external medical treatment and Gabriella returned to the UK.
In March 2020, Nazanin was furloughed when Covid swept through the prison and she was placed under house arrest.
There were more court appearances and the constant threat of jail.
In March 2022, she finally flew home but Nazanin has said the ordeal "will always haunt me".
Chatto & Windus at Vintage, a division of Penguin Random House, will publish the memoir in autumn 2023 in all formats.
Deputy publishing director Becky Hardie said: "This is a story for and of our times. It is about the power of love, the strength to resist, and Nazanin’s long journey home to her family.
"It is so human, so moving and so immediate, readers will be gripped from the start.
"But it brings with it important messages about our politics, and our roles as individuals in society.
"This is a book that will change how we understand ourselves and our world; it will be a landmark piece of publishing that will live on for decades to come.
"We could not be more honoured to have the chance to work with Nazanin and Richard and do justice to this very special book."
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