Fresh torment for Nazanin as Iran jails her for another year
NAZANIN Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to a further year in prison in Iran yesterday prompting fresh claims the regime is using her as a ‘bargaining chip’.
The aid worker was sentenced on a charge of propaganda against the country’s authoritarian regime for attending a 2009 demonstration at its London embassy, where she gave an interview to the BBC.
The Prime Minister led criticism of Mrs
Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imprisonment and her husband Richard Ratcliffe said the conviction would be appealed.
Mr Ratcliffe accused Tehran of using the sentence as a ‘ negotiating tactic’. Boris Johnson described it as ‘cruel, inhumane and wholly unjustified’.
He said: ‘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.’ Both British officials and Mr Ratcliffe are understood to have been blindsided and given no prior warning of the sentence before it was made public yesterday.
The dual British-Iranian citizen was also handed a oneyear travel ban starting after her imprisonment. It raises the prospect of Mrs ZaghariRatcliffe, 42, not being able to see her six-year-old daughter
Gabriella for at least another two years. It is also likely to deepen the festering diplomatic row between the UK and Iran. Mr Ratcliffe, a lawyer from London, told the Mail that the couple hadn’t told Gabriella that her mother may be returning to prison.
He said: ‘We have decided not to tell her, though she will have seen me doing interviews at the kitchen table all day and she’ll pick it up from school. But Nazanin’s not back in prison yet.’ He said his wife’s reaction had been anger. ‘Nazanin was calm initially but became more and more angry. She said she wanted to shout at Dominic Raab,’ he added. Asked about his reaction, he said: ‘ It’s beyond words. It’s a slap in the face. It’s worse than we were expecting. It’s a warning shot from Iran but the Government has been naive to allow this to drag on. They have an aversion to standing up to it. They still won’t admit she’s a hostage. They have a duty to protect people and they have failed in that duty.’
But Mr Ratcliffe said he was pleased that Boris Johnson had issued a strong statement. Mr Johnson said the Government would be ‘working very hard’ to secure her release despite years of unsuccessful efforts.
He added: ‘I don’t think it is right at all that Nazanin should be sentenced to any more time in jail. The Government will not stop, we will redouble our efforts, and we are working with our American friends on this issue.’
In a phone call with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani last month, Mr Johnson pressed for her release. But the Iranian leader accused the UK of making little progress in returning a debt of around £400million that Iran claims it is owed for a 1970s arms deal.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: ‘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.’ Last month Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released after a five-year sentence for allegedly spying while visiting relatives in Iran in 2016.
But a week later she was told to face new charges in court. Her family said the trial had lasted for only 20 minutes.
‘Cruel, inhumane and wholly unjustified’