UK mother ‘being held over arms deal debt’
IRAN/BRITAIN: A British mother held in Iran for nearly two years remains in jail because of a dispute with Britain over interest due on a cancelled arms deal, her husband says.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 39, told her husband Richard Ratcliffe that the judge at a hearing on Thursday claimed she was being held while Iran and Britain argued over the interest rate on a £450 million debt dating back to before the Islamic Revolution almost 40 years ago.
Ratcliffe claimed that his wife had quoted the judge as saying: ‘‘The British have accepted to pay the historic debt but there is still a dispute over calculating the interest rate.’’
Iran’s embassy in London, however, denied that the debt and Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s detention were linked.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, who visited London yesterday, insisted that the case belonged to the judiciary. He said the foreign ministry was working to resolve her predicament ‘‘on a humanitarian basis’’.
Britain has accepted that it is liable to repay the debt but denies any link between the two issues.
The government of the late shah of Iran paid Britain for 1750 Chieftain tanks, but only 185 were delivered before the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The repayment has been held up by negotiations over the interest due and how the transaction can go ahead without breaching banking sanctions.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘‘This is a long-standing case. We reject any idea the two issues are linked.’’
Ratcliffe and his wife’s employer, Thomson Reuters Foundation, called on Britain to resolve the dispute.
Monique Villa, the chief executive of the foundation, and Ratcliffe have previously criticised British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson for incorrectly claiming that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was training journalists in Iran.
‘‘After putting her in this situation, Boris Johnson said last November he would do everything possible to secure Nazanin’s release,’’ Villa said. ‘‘But what is he doing now? She could be freed tomorrow if the dispute over the interest rate question were resolved.’’
The judge at Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s hearing denied her request to be moved to her parents’ home in Tehran, where her daughter, Gabriella, 3, has lived since she was arrested in April 2016.
– The Times