Tehran: A British woman has been jailed by the government in Iran and may face the death penalty for “insulting Islamic sanctities” on social networking site Facebook. She has been locked up in Iran for five months after posting insulting comments about the country’s government on Facebook.
According to the media reports, Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht, from Stockport, who has been accused of insulting Islam and may have been punishable by death, her husband said. Remembered that most Arab countries are not allowed to speak out against the government or officials, however, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India have the freedom to some extent.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said it was “urgently” looking into her case. However, Britain presently has no embassy in Iran, making any negotiations more difficult.
The 47-years old lady, Roya travelled to Tehran to see family in October last year. She was arrested at the airport when she took a flight across Iran to the city of Shiraz, according to an account given by her husband, Daryoush Taghipoor, to a family friend in Britain.
The couple has lived in the Stockport suburb of Heald Green for the past six years and have both been granted dual British-Iranian nationality. Mrs Nobakht had previously been a student at Stockport College, but a spokeswoman said today she had left four years ago. Mr Taghipoor told “It’s a very bad time for us. We don’t know what’s going on. My wife is not well at all. She has lost three stone and is frightened. Roya is afraid that the government will kill her.”