THE father of a Cwmbran GP is waiting to hear whether he will be allowed to visit Iran to attend the trial of his daughter-in-law.

Rebecca Ratcliffe’s father John, who is a lawyer, has applied for a visa as the case relating to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has started.

Since April 3, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and the couple’s daughter Gabriella have been stuck in Iran, with both their British passports confiscated.

While Gabriella is living with her grandparents in the Iranian capital Tehran, her mum is in prison, facing charges relating to espionage.

On Monday, it was announced that her trial would be heard at the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, which has prompted the action from her father-in-law.

Dr Ratcliffe said: “Nazanin’s case is part of a wider pattern – a number of dual nationals have been taken in an effort to justify the fiction that there is a plot of infiltration.”

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian national, works for Reuters Thompson, the charitable arm of the news agency, and since her incarceration, she has had limited contact with her family.

“The facts remain that Nazanin went to Iran on a family visit, like all the other dual nationals recently arrested. It was the fourth time she had travelled with Gabriella to see her family in Tehran,” added Dr Ratcliffe, who lives in Marshfield with her family.

“The idea that this time she might be part of some active plot, when she had no problems before, is not only fantasy, it is a deliberate lie.

“It remains shameful to Iran that she and Gabriella are being used as a political bargaining chip in this way.”

Dr Ratcliffe added that her brother, Richard, spoke to his wife on Monday, and aired her worries about her continued time in prison.

“Their daughter has been kept away from her mother and father now for four months and she is desperate to come home,” she said.

“She confirmed that she remains frail – she is still losing her hair, she is struggling to regain any weight. This remains a very cruel case.”

Dr Ratcliffe’s brother has created a petition – change.org/p/david-cameron-mp-free-nazanin-ratcliffe – to help his wife’s cause.