Anxious wait for Nazanin on ‘propaganda’ charges

BRITON Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been brought back to court on new charges of spreading ‘propaganda against Iran’, just over a week after her ankle tag was removed.

The mum, 43, was accused during a 20-minute hearing in Tehran of taking part in a demo outside the Iranian embassy in London 12 years ago, her lawyer told the BBC.

She must now wait seven working days before learning if she will be returned to jail, after already serving five years on spying charges that she strenuously denied.

The fresh case could dash her hopes of rejoining husband Richard Ratcliffe and daughter Gabriella, six, in London.

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said: ‘It is unacceptable and unjustifiable that Iran has chosen to continue with this second, wholly arbitrary, case against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

‘The Iranian government has deliberately put her through a cruel and inhumane ordeal. Nazanin must be allowed to return to her family in the UK without further delay.’

British-Iranian charity worker Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who served the last year of her sentence under house arrest due to the pandemic, was first arrested while visiting family in Iran.

Some observers say she is being used as leverage over a £400million debt for British tanks – paid for by the ex-shah but never delivered after he was toppled in the 1979 revolution.

She told the court yesterday she did not accept the new charge, pointing out that the accusations and evidence were part of her first trial. But her husband warned: ‘The Revolutionary Court is not in the business of acquitting people, it only does convictions but it can take its time in doing that and the sentence can vary.’

He said the uncertainty over whether the trial was just a ‘warning shot’, or would result in jail, was ‘part of the abuse’ his wife is suffering. He added the British Embassy ignored the family’s request for staff to accompany Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe (pictured) to court, which the Foreign Office denied. Rights group Redress said she was being kept ‘in a constant state of fear’.