Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian former charity worker, spoke at the Big Brew festival in Burton, Somerset about the challenges of Evin prison and the specific methods she used to cope with them. She was arrested in 2016 on charges of espionage and spent over five years in this notorious prison in Tehran.
Unexpected Comforts in Prison
Zaghari-Ratcliffe mentioned her experience in prison, citing watching the series "Orange is the New Black" with other inmates as one of her strange comforts. She had illegally smuggled this series onto a USB drive into the prison and said, "We watched various series like 'Breaking Bad' and 'Prince Break.' This helped us connect with our former lives."
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Creativity and Hope Amid Hardships
Zaghari-Ratcliffe also referred to her creative activities in prison. With the help of other inmates, she watched Zumba videos and even made pizza for them. She jokingly said, "I was the pizza dough queen in prison." These activities helped her alleviate the mental pressures of prison and connect with others.
Additionally, using the prison's sewing machine, she made clothes for her daughter and her fellow inmates. This experience not only helped her pass the time but also led to her collaboration with the Imperial War Museum in London and the Liberty fabric department, where she created three new designs that explored her experience as a prisoner.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe also mentioned the most interesting and dangerous item she smuggled into prison: a Swiss Army knife. She explained, "I realized they didn't care about what I was doing. I was just a political hostage. So I could do anything in prison."
She had hidden the knife in her shoe but found it difficult to walk due to its size. She said, "Having a knife in prison is a real crime, but I felt that even if they found it, what could they sentence me to? I was already in prison, and they couldn't add anything else to my sentence."
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released in March 2022 after the UK paid a multi-million-pound debt to Iran. The Iranian regime had accused her of espionage, a charge she denied, and no evidence was presented. However, it seemed she was being held as a state hostage to force the UK to pay its debt.
Although Zaghari-Ratcliffe is still traumatized by her prison experience and sees a counselor, she said she continues to find solace in sewing. She added, "When the military attack on Iran happened in late February, I did nothing for five days. The only thing I could do was sit by my sewing machine and sew. The only control I could have over my surroundings was control over my own world."
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