Charity worker with family after Iran jail release

CHARITY worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is “overwhelmed” and “very happy” after being temporarily released from prison in Iran for three days, her husband has said.

The British-Iranian mother has been reunited with fouryear-old daughter Gabriella and other family members after spending 873 days in jail. She was sentenced to five years in prison after being accused of spying by Tehran’s Islamist regime.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, from Hampstead, north London, has consistently denied all allegations, insisting she was on holiday to introduce her daughter to family.

The 39-year-old was released from Evin prison in Tehran yesterday morning and is now with family in Damavand, just outside the capital, until Sunday. Husband Richard Ratcliffe welcomed the “good step”, saying: “Despite the build-up, today was a genuine surprise after all the disappointments.”

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe said: “I cried so much. I felt so overwhelmed. My dad’s home is not my home — but it is so much better than prison.”

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted: “Really good news that Nazanin has been released. But being in prison at all is gross injustice and she must be permanently released for which every effort will continue.”

The previous foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, last year apologised for the “distress” and “suffering” he caused by suggesting Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was training journalists in Iran, which exposed her to the threat of her five-year jail sentence being doubled.