Lindsay and Craig are now in the third week of a hunger strike with no end in sight. Craig is on day 18 and Lindsay on day 9. We learned this weekend that British embassy staff have returned to Tehran but we do not yet know when consular or medical visits will take place.
Earlier this year, Ambassador Hugo Shorter called Lindsay in prison, leaving her with the message that she should prepare to be in Iran for a long time as there was nothing that the British Government could do. This kicked off a chain reaction. After that Lindsay and Craig gave interviews to the BBC because they felt completely unheard. Then the Iranian authorities cut off their phone access; preventing the daily calls to family that had become a lifeline. Fed up with the lies they were being told and the promises broken, prevented from seeing each other and denied every other avenue to protest their innocence, they began to refuse food.
Last Thursday Joe’s MP Tony Vaughan led an adjournment debate in Parliament about their imprisonment. Minister Hamish Falconer responded. When asked whether he could confirm that Lindsay and Craig were receiving adequate health monitoring during their hunger strikes, he said he could not provide that assurance.
The proposals put forward by Tony Vaughan - formal declaration of arbitrary detention, diplomatic protection, engagement with third-country embassies - were each sidestepped. The minister’s position was that quiet diplomacy is the only tool available and that the family must be patient and quiet.
This is not a strategy. The same arguments were made in the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. It was not quiet diplomacy that brought her home. Richard Ratcliffe sat in the public gallery on 21st May, shoulder to shoulder with Joe. He knows all too well what it looks like when the system moves too slowly. Richard shared his views after:
“It was depressing that we got the same old lines from the Minister. He was talking about Lindsay and Craig but I remember them all from statements on Nazanin. From the groans in Parliament, so did the MPs.”
The embassy is now open again after three months during which no welfare visits took place and no contingency was put in place despite the prison being in line of sight to the bombings in Tehran. Ambassador Shorter is returning to Tehran. He must now use his presence to do some good for Lindsay and Craig. We continue to push the government to.
1. Ensure urgent welfare visits now.
2. Formally declare their detention arbitrary.
3. Confer diplomatic protection.
4. Put more urgency into securing their release
We would really appreciate if you could write to your MPs again to push them on this subject. Thank you for signing our petition and continuing to support us. Please also continue to ask others to sign the petition. Thank you also for your very kind donations through our Go Fund Me Page.
From the Family and Friends of Lindsay and Craig