Mehri Jafari has been missing since August 4 after tackling the 23,000-feet summit of Peak Pobeda

THE family of an inspirational lawyer and human rights activist who went missing during a mountaineering challenge say they have lost hope of seeing her again.

Mehri Jafari was well known in Islington as a community campaigner and a member of her local Labour Party. An online page had raised more than £20,000 to fund a search mission in Kyrgyzstan but relatives have now said she has to be presumed to have died.

In a thank-you message to people who donated, the family said “selfless volunteers” had put their own lives at risk to look for Ms Jafari, but added: “Sadly it became clear that we have lost Mehri, and her body cannot be found.”

Tributes have been paid to Ms Jafari, who had worked on equalities issues. She had been campaigning for Labour during the council by-elections and City Hall polls in April.

Islington South MP Emily Thornberry shared the appeal earlier in the search, while Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn posted a message of “solidarity” to her friends and family.

Ms Jafari, who was an experienced climber and a member of the London Mountaineering Club, has been missing since August 4 after tackling the 23,000-feet summit of Peak Pobeda – one of the world’s hardest mountains to climb, and also one of the coldest.

Before beginning the ascent, she had explained the task ahead – part of what is known as the Snow Leopard Challenge – and how she had become the first Iranian woman to climb Khan Tengri, the ­mountain opposite Peak Pobeda, in 2008.

Later she posted photos at base camp, telling of climbing through a waterfall and how she had made a “snow soup”.

The family’s message said: “We wanted to thank everyone who supported our fundraising in the hope of rescuing Mehri.

Words cannot describe your generosity and the spirit of hope it brought to Mehri’s loved ones at an incredibly ­difficult time.”

One report said she may have fallen after being separated from a group of climbers, although in other posts relatives asked people not to speculate on social media about the ­circumstances of her disappearance and that the authorities in Kyrgyzstan were expected to interview witnesses.

“We expect an official enquiry and report,” a message on Facebook said.

Money that had been donated is to be refunded as local volunteers had ultimately conducted the search for free.

Kyrgyz tour company, Ak-Sai Travel, had said it could not conduct a search of the area where Ms Jafari went missing because it was too ­dangerous.

In the same week, two other climbers – a Russian man and an Iranian man –were reported to have died on the mountain in separate incidents.