Friends, A belated update from yesterday, after a Friday night away from it all, with two things I wanted to say: Yesterday I met with Nazanin’s MP, Tulip Siddiq, to discuss how to take our petition to Downing Street this coming week. She also wants to explore more stridently on behalf of Nazanin and Gabriella whether the government really has been doing all it can for them. Next week we will be meeting the FCO for a face to face update. Also I wanted to share a bit more of Gabriella’s visit to see Nazanin. It was obviously tightly controlled in that the family were not allowed to ask her anything about the interrogations and what the problem is, nor mention a lawyer. They were unable to ask anything about where she is being held or the conditions she is being kept in, or about her health. They don’t know where Nazanin went back to. And of course they were not allowed to take their phones or any camera in. But for all that, the visit happened, and Nazanin and Gabriella had around 3 hours together. For the first 15 minutes they just cuddled each other, barely saying a word, remembering. They were able to play together and have a normal family lunch of chicken and kebab, and Gabriella was given a doll to play with by the Iranian authorities, which she liked. By the end, Nazanin and Gabriella were even able to sing together. A brief holiday from where Nazanin is again now, but precious. Nazanin was looking stronger than her family had expected – Nazanin’s mother had needed to be almost pushed onto the internal flight down to Kerman, dreading what she was going to see when she saw her daughter. Yet for a few hours they could still be a normal family. Nazanin was able to send messages back to me about how much she loved me and would soon see me at home, as well as not to forget to change Gabriella’s upcoming hospital appointment. I don’t know how or when this will all end. But I do know that my little girl was happy yesterday, singing twinkle, twinkle little star for her dad, and clearly refreshed by seeing her mum. Ahead of the politics of next week, as a husband and father belatedly doing my job, I hope the events of this week means our family has turned a corner. My love and thanks to you all – Richard