Response to Dr Spoto

Wendy Burn

date

2019-10

Dr Giuseppe Spoto asks why the College has not made a statement about the treatment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran and remembers that in the past it has spoken out against abuse of psychiatry in the former Soviet Union in the 1970s.

We remain active in responding to cases where we believe there has been abuse of human rights. We have to be very cautious about making public statements on these issues; we never act until we have taken advice from those working closely with the family and supporters of the individual concerned and from agencies such as Amnesty International. It would be easy to unwittingly make the situation worse for the people involved.

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