UK considers diplomatic protection for aid worker imprisoned in Iran

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government is considering granting diplomatic protection to a jailed aid worker in Iran as part of an effort to secure her release from a jail in the Islamic republic.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was sentenced to five years after being convicted by an Iranian court of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She denies the charges.

Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, said the case had become a bargaining chip for Iran in its relations with Britain and urged Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to extend diplomatic protection.

It is unclear how such protection could be offered retrospectively to a dual Iranian-British citizen or whether it could secure her release, but May’s spokesman said it was one option being considered.

“I think that the foreign secretary has obviously spoken with her husband and that is one of the options being looked at,” the spokesman said.

“The prime minister has been involved with this case from the outset. She’s raised it with the Iranian president on at least two occasions. The entire government is working towards securing her release as quickly as possible.”

A legal opinion on Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case prepared for human-rights charity Redress said the British government could grant her diplomatic protection as she is “predominantly” a British citizen who has been denied a fair trial.

It is unclear how Tehran would view such a step, which would explicitly make Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s fate an issue in state-to-state relations rather than a purely consular case.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s fate become a major political issue in Britain after Johnson said on November 1 that she had been teaching journalism before her arrest in April 2016, contradicting statements from her employer.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation, a charity organization that is independent of Thomson Reuters and operates independently of Reuters News, said she had been on holiday and had not been teaching journalism in Iran.

Iranian state television said Johnson’s comments showed Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s guilt and that she was involved in spying.

Johnson later said his remarks could have been clearer and there was no doubt she had been on holiday.