Richard Ratcliffe with the image of his wife during his Hunger Strike of 21 days

The Bishop of Chelmsford, The Rt Revd Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani has written this prayer about the plight of
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and all being imprisoned unjustly in Iran.

It is timed to coincide with Nazanin’s husband Richard’s ending of his hunger strike outside the Foreign Office
in the hope that the British Government might make a real effort to persuade the Iranian Government to free her.

Bishop Guli is an Iranian refugee who with her family had to flee from Iran at the time of the Iranian Revolution. At that time her brother was murdered. Her father was an Anglican Bishop in Iran at the time.
This prayer comes, therefore, from her heart and she invites us all to pray it  daily with her over the time ahead.

O God, the source of all that is good and holy,
who through your Son calls the weary and heavy-laden to find comfort in your presence:
look upon Nazanin, and all those who are imprisoned unjustly, with your gentle gaze;
surround them and their loved ones with the assurance of your love;
give them the gift of hope; and soften the hearts of the powerful,
so that justice may roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
In the name of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Amen.