From Iranian prisons to the Royal Box, the adventure of Nazazin

Imprisoned in Iranian prisons for six years. The charge: espionage. She was in solitary confinement for months, starting in April 2016, with no contact with her husband and daughter. In her cell, Nazazin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, employee of the BBC with dual Iranian and British passports, he had a television and was only allowed to watch two channels. On one, Persian soap operas were broadcast. On the other, the Wimbledon matches.

“Watching the matches I felt like a connection, the possibility of getting out of the situation I was in,” Nazazin told the English network after his release nine months ago. Radio 4. «Turning on the television I suddenly felt at home again».

Nazazin has always denied the accusations – according to the guardians of the revolution the journalism courses she held online were nothing more than a recruitment system – but it took very long negotiations to convince the ayatollahs to release her, between periods of semi-freedom and new accusations, concluded in 2022 with the definitive release.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe also told Radio 4 that what excited her most of all was Andy Murray’s second success at the Championships, in July 2016, so when Andy learned about the story he wanted to give her a chance to see him play in a decidedly different situation: in the Royal Box, just behind the Princes of Wales and Roger Federer. It happened yesterday, on the occasion of Murray’s return to Center Court, in the victorious match with Ryan Peniston. The two then met at the All England Club. time here and I was thrilled to talk to her and listen to her story». Tennis can make you feel free, even when your body is a prisoner.