Thank You – from Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband and sister-in-law
Stand Up in the Park, the highlight of Amnesty International Cardiff Group/ Grŵp Amnest Rhyngwladol Caerdydd’s summer calendar, is no more.
The event has come to an end as our partner for the annual mid-summer evening, Everyman Theatre Cardiff, did not run its usual series of sell-out performances, Cardiff Open Air Festival Theatre, at the city’s Sophia Gardens.
We would like to thank the theatre group for giving Amnesty the chance to put on its “comedy with a conscience”, first on behalf of the Free Nazanin campaign and then over the years for other British citizens unjustly detained in Iran.
Richard Ratcliffe attended every Stand Up from its inception in 2017 as part of his years-long campaign to see his wife freed. He said:
In the Free Nazanin Campaign, we are forever indebted to the Cardiff Open Air Festival, and the place they gave to Cardiff Amnesty to put on Stand Up in the Park, and dedicate it to Nazanin and others across a number of years.
They held us in the light and gave us a night of laughter when we were a minor story, as well as when we became a major one, and were a point of continuity and upbeat spirit across all the ups and downs in the campaign to get Nazanin home.
The Festival was also where we first unveiled the chain of care, a chain of nearly three thousand colourful links knitted by people up and down the country, which we later took in front of the Iranian Embassy and on hunger strike in front of the Foreign Office, and became a symbol for us of that world of colour and care waiting beyond the walls.
It was huge that day, and filled the stage. But its legacy is still with us. I still have a small part of it I take to other families’ demonstrations as a good luck charm, and that I ran the London marathon with – for Amnesty and for those still in harm’s way. If campaigning taught me one thing, it is that you never know what hope can spark.
May the legacy of the Festival continue to live on in many other ways.”
Nazanin’s sister-in-law, Rebecca Ratcliffe, also attended Stand Up in the Park every year. She said:
Over the many years of our family campaign, I have been privileged to have had so much local support from people of Cardiff. Initially this was friends and family and the local Cardiff Amnesty group but it soon grew to other local communities.
One that stands out in particular for me and my family is the Stand Up in the Park fundraiser put on for several years by the team of Cardiff Open Air Festival Theatre, with the help of Cardiff Amnesty.
From that first night in summer of 2017, we realised what a huge success it was – not only as a platform for our campaign but a fantastic comedy night in its own right. And it grew from strength to strength each year with sell-out performances by the end.
It was a joy to come to, to meet old friends and chat to new each time – people who had come for a night to be entertained but happy to listen to our story and reach out and help us.
We are so grateful that Cardiff Open Air Festival Theatre gave us this opportunity, not just once, but many many times. It has been such a boost to us over a very dark time of our lives. Thank you.
AmnestyCardiff.org 