‘Nazanin has her whole life ahead of her now’
After a six-year fight to free Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe, MP Tulip Siddiq talks to Georgia Aspinall about the momentous day she finally came home.
The moment Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe landed at RAF Brize Norton, her sevenyear-old daughter Gabriella could be heard delicately asking her dad, ‘Is that mummy?’ It had been six years since the family had been together, finally able to embrace after years of failed efforts to get her home.
The British-iranian national, 43, was detained in Tehran in April 2016, accused of spying and spreading propaganda against Iran. Her husband Richard has fought tirelessly for her release ever since, maintaining that her imprisonment was due to a £400m debt the UK Government has owed Iran since 1979 (when Iran ordered British tanks and armoured vehicles that were never delivered). She was a political bargaining chip: her life torn apart amid Government power squabbles.
Britain refused to acknowledge the debt for years, until February, when Foreign
Secretary Liz Truss finally noted it as ‘legitimate’. Mere weeks later, Nazanin was reunited with her family. Tulip Siddiq, Nazanin’s local MP in Hampstead, tells Grazia that they knew the former charity worker was due to come home six days before the reunion, but everyone wanted to keep the news private for as long as possible – they couldn’t be certain of anything.
‘Nazanin was very anxious in the days leading up [to her leaving],’ Tulip says. ‘She had her bags packed, waiting for a knock on the door. One day she messaged me saying, “High levels of stress.” She was also very sad about leaving her parents.’ (Last March, Richard told Grazia that Nazanin would never return to Iran once she arrived home. ‘[It will] absolutely be a one-way ticket.’)
Richard too was nervous about lastminute hitches, Tulip says. ‘She almost came home last year. There was a deal in place but our Government backed out last minute, so it fell apart. It was hard to have faith in the Government when they had pulled out once before. We were watching every move with bated breath.’
So if all it took to get Nazanin – and fellow detainee Anoosheh Ashoori – home was paying this debt, are the #Freenazanin camp angry over those six lost years? ‘I’m grateful to Liz Truss for the work she did,’ Tulip says. ‘But there are questions about why this took so long. We need an inquiry about why the debt wasn’t paid and why we didn’t act faster when Nazanin was detained.’
Right now, though, Tulip wants to focus on the joy of a family reunited. ‘Gabriella has been attached to Nazanin like an extra limb since she landed! She doesn’t know what to do with herself, she’s so happy,’ Tulip says. ‘Nazanin seems elated but she said she’s exhausted and can’t sleep. She can’t believe she’s here.
‘She wants to come back to the community and thank people, also make lots of new friends because she knows how many people supported her when she was in jail. She wants to take baby steps, but also make up for the lost years. She has her whole life ahead of her now.’
PRINCE PHILIP’S memorial service will take place at the end of this month, but two notable absences at Westminster Abbey will be the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The pair, still living in California, have cited safety concerns for their no-show. A statement from Harry’s lawyer said that the prince ‘does not feel safe’ visiting the UK, as the Home Office is not willing to provide police protection, despite the Sussexes offering to cover the costs.
However, given that Harry will be in the Netherlands in April for the Invictus Games (the sports event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen), some royal experts believe their absence is really a silent retaliation against the royal family.
Katie Nicholl, author of Harry And Meghan: Life, Loss, And Love, tells Grazia that Harry ‘had a very cool welcome from his family when he came over for Philip’s funeral’ and that although he’d wanted to bring Meghan and his two children over last summer for Lilibet’s christening, that plan was never given the green light.
‘Not coming to England is a big deal. Harry has not been in the UK since last April and Meghan’s not been back since March 2020,’ Katie says. ‘It speaks volumes that he’s not coming for the service. It’s a snub to the Queen and to his family and only fuels speculation that there’s very little contact with William, and that both of them are resigned to their relationship being a distant one, for now at least.’
Many of the Sussexes’ post-royal plans are on pause – perhaps understandably given Lilibet is only nine months old and the couple were determined that Harry would take some paternity leave. There has been little official news on their podcast with Spotify, beyond that it will debut in the summer, after the pair urged the platform to crack down on Covid misinformation two months ago. Meanwhile, while Harry was photographed with what appeared to be a microphone wire, their rumoured fly-on-the-wall reality show, part of a multimillion-pound deal with Netflix, hasn’t materialised.
However, Katie believes that, baby and royal rifts aside, there may be another reason the couple are laying low. ‘I was told by a senior Palace aide that they were always in a hurry when they were working royals; they wanted things done immediately,’ she says. ‘Possibly they’ve learned to take things at a slower, more considered pace. They need to get the next steps right in order for their future work to be a success, so they are deliberately taking their time.’
Separately, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been ramping up their duties, undertaking a week-long tour of the Caribbean on behalf of the Queen. ‘The trip highlights Kate and William’s role as senior royals,’ Katie says. ‘This isn’t just about celebrating a milestone year, it’s also flying the flag for Britain.’