My husband Anoosheh Ashoori was arrested while visiting his 86-year-old mother in Iran; a trip he had made from our home in the UK many times before. He is 65, a retired engineer with a passion for science, space, and civil engineering.

He has never been involved in any political activity but has been sentenced to 12 years in Evin Prison for spying for Israel. His life-long interest has been to come up with innovations to build safer earth-quake resistant homes, for which he won an award. He has never held any government posts or been privy to any state secrets. I believe he is being used as a bargaining chip in negotiations between the UK and Iran - sacrificed for a being a British/Iranian dual national.

He is a peaceful, conscientious, kind, and upright husband and father, who wanted to build a 'hobbit hole' in the garden for his wife, and a macaron machine to help his daughter's business. But instead of being with his family, he is languishing in a notorious prison on bogus charges.

His trial in Iran was a farce, his lawyers were rejected, and he was ultimately forced to represent himself. His appeal has also been denied without a shred of evidence to support the accusation against him.

I am calling on the Iranian authorities to free my husband and for the UK Government to do everything in its power to bring my husband home. Please help to clear his good name and bring him back to his family by signing this petition.