‘She has to have her passport returned and a flight booked’ – MP wants plan in place to get British mum home from Iran
The Government “doesn't have a plan” to bring home a British mother due to finish a five-year sentence in Iran next month, her local MP fears.
British-iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe has been detained in Iran since 2016, when she was sentenced to five years in prison over allegations, which she denies, of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government.
The sentence is due to end on March 7 but Mrs Zaghariratcliffe's MP Tulip Siddiq has said "my main worry is that the Government just doesn't have a plan".
The Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn in north London said: "We need a plan at this point, there's no point just hoping and thinking 'Right, it's coming to an end in March and she's coming home' – we need a plan to make sure that she gets her ankle tag removed, that's the first thing.
"She has to have her British passport returned, and then have a flight booked for her to comebacktowesthampstead where her home is."
Ms Siddiq added: "The Government still has a lot they can do in order to ensure that it is a reality that she does come home in March."
She believes the payment of a debt the UK owes Iran will hel, saying: "Our Government still hasn't resolved the £400m debt that we owe Iran.
"We know this debt is linked to her case, she's been told by officials in Evin Prison when she was there that her imprisonment was linked to the debt and yet Government ministers will acknowledge that we owe this debt but they don't seem to think expediting this and freeing Nazanin is in direct correlation with each other."
Ms Siddiq added: "My constituent's life is basically a bargaining chip because she's not being set free because we haven't fulfilled our responsibility of paying the debt.
"If there's some movement on that I reckon Nazanin's chances are increased."
Foreign Office minister James Cleverly called the debt and Nazanin's imprisonment "unrelated issues" in the Commons last November. He said: "We recognise the debt is due. We are working to resolve this."
Mrs Zaghari-ratcliffe, 42, has been out of prison since last spring due to the coronavirus crisis, and has been under house arrest at her parents' home in Tehran.