Zaghari-Ratcliffe given another year in prison
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CONFIRMED coronavirus infections in the Philippines have surged past a million in the country’s latest grim milestone, as officials assess whether to extend a month-long lockdown in the Manila region amid a deadly spike or relax it to fight an economic recession.
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THE UK Government has branded the detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe for a further year in Iran as “totally inhumane and wholly unjustified”.
The British-Iranian charity worker has been given an additional jail term, having already completed a five-year sentence on charges levied by Iranian authorities, the last year of which was spent under house arrest due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Her lawyer, Hojjat Kermani, said she received the second sentence on a charge of spreading “propaganda against the system” for participating in a protest in front of the Iranian Embassy in London in 2009. As well as the one-year jail term, she has also been banned from leaving the country for a year.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter: “Iran’s decision to sentence Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to another year in prison is cruel, inhumane and wholly unjustified. She must be allowed to return to her family in the UK and we will continue to do all we can to get her home.”
His comments were echoed by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who said in a statement: “This is a totally inhumane and wholly unjustified decision. We continue to call on Iran to release Nazanin immediately so she can return to her family in the UK. We continue to do all we can to support her.”
Mr Johnson also said that the Government will be “working very hard” to secure her release, telling reporters: “Obviously, we will have to study the detail of what the Iranian authorities are saying. I don’t think it is right at all that Nazanin should be sentenced to any more time in jail.
“I think it is wrong that she is there in the first place and we will be working very hard to secure her release from Iran, her ability to return to her family here in the UK, just as we work for all our dual-national cases in Iran.
“The Government will not stop, we will redouble our efforts, and we are working with our American friends on this issue as well.”
Her MP, Tulip Siddiq, who represents Hampstead and Kilburn, said: “This is a terrible blow for Nazanin and her family, who have been hoping and praying that she would soon be free to come home.
“It is devastating to see Nazanin once again being abusively used as bargaining chip. We’ve been told the Government has been working behind the scenes to secure Nazanin’s release. These efforts have clearly failed and we deserve an urgent explanation from ministers about what has happened.”
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained in 2016 on charges of crimes related to national security, and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. She completed the latter part of her sentence under house arrest, but was returned to court later in the month, when she was tried on new charges of “spreading propaganda against the regime”.
Redress, the human rights group supporting Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, said her lawyer in Iran intends to appeal the decision. Its director, Rupert Skilbeck, said she had never received a fair trial in Iran, and was innocent of the allegations made against her, and added: “Nazanin has already suffered severe physical and psychological impacts from the torture and ill-treatment she has been subjected to during the past five years. A further sentence to prison or house arrest may cause irreparable damage to her health.”