British academic facing jail in Iran makes daring escape to UK

A British Iranian dual national sentenced to nine years and three months in jail in Iran for co-operating with “a hostile state power” has smuggled himself out of Iran, escaping over the country’s treacherous mountainous border, and is now living in London.

In an interview with the Guardian, Kameel Ahmady explained he felt had no option but to flee after spending nearly 100 days in Evin prison, including a brutal spell in solitary confinement while he was being interrogated.

“Once I had been sentenced I had a choice of whether I would stay and not see my family and four-year-old child until he was 14, or to risk fleeing,” he said.

Ahmady, a social anthropologist whose research revealed the extent of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Iran, was found guilty of conspiring with hostile foreign powers in November 2020, among other charges, but was released on bail pending his appeal. He was also fined more than £500,000.

Mr Ahmady instructed Channel 4 Information he escaped Iran whereas awaiting a court docket look and described the harrowing experiences he suffered whereas serving 100 days in solitary confinement in Evin jail, which has beforehand held Iranian-British twin nationwide Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Describing the situations in an interview to be broadcast on Wednesday night, he instructed the broadcaster: “You’re blindfolded always, even within the first or second week of your interrogation, after which lastly they’ll ease it down a bit of bit.

“You’re mainly pushed right into a room and then you definitely hear the guards are closing or locking the door, after which somebody will let you know behind the door which you could raise your blindfold. So, while you raise it up, I noticed a small room – it was virtually like a grave – and you may’t stroll on it, you possibly can’t do something other than both sitting down or standing up or mendacity down.”