Category: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

UK Condemns Iran’s ‘Barbaric’ Execution of British-Iranian Dual National Alireza Akbari

The UK government has condemned Iran’s execution of British-Iranian dual national Alireza Akbari, saying the Islamic regime’s behaviour “will not stand unchallenged.” Akbari, a former deputy defence minister of Iran, was arrested in 2019 and accused of espionage for British intelligence agency MI6, a charge he denies. The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported the…


UK Urges Iran to Halt Execution of British–Iranian Alireza Akbari

The UK government has condemned the planned execution of a British–Iranian dual national by Iran and has appealed for it not to go ahead. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Twitter on Wednesday: “Iran must halt the execution of British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari and immediately release him. This is a politically motivated act by a…


Iran Releases US-British-Iranian Conservationist on Furlough

A British–U.S.–Iranian environmentalist who has spent over four years in an Iranian prison has been released on furlough with an electronic tag. Morad Tahbaz, 66, has been released from the Evin prison and is at his family’s home in the Iranian capital Tehran, Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said on July 27. An…


Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Used Detainees as ‘Tool’: Former UK Foreign Secretary

The former British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has told a committee of MPs that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards often used their control of detainees like Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe as a “tool” to prevent compromises they opposed. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, who had dual British and Iranian nationality, and who returned to the UK in March after spending six years…


British-Iranian Citizen Says She Had to Sign ‘False Confession’ Before Being Freed

British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who returned to the UK in March after spending six years in detention in Iran, has revealed she was forced to sign a “false confession” in front of a UK government official before she was allowed to leave Iran. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was…


British–Iranian Mother Arrives Home After 6 Years Detained in Iran

British–Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was reunited with her family on Thursday morning, six years after she was detained in Iran. She and Anoosheh Ashoori, another British–Iranian detainee, touched down on British soil at RAF Brize Norton at just after 1 a.m. local time. A video shared on social media showed the emotional homecoming as…


MPs Warn Against Future Hostage-Taking as British-Iranians Released in Parallel With Compensation

The UK government was questioned what “practical steps” it’s taking to deter future politically motivated hostage-taking after it paid a historic debt to Iran “in parallel” with the release of British-Iranians Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori on Wednesday. Labour former minister Hilary Benn said the payment and the release of the detainees were”always sequential” in the eyes of…


Detained British-Iranian Mother Allowed to Return to UK After 6 Years: Lawmaker

British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is about to leave Iran where she has been detained since 2016, according to her MP and her legal representative. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at a Tehran airport in April 2016 as she prepared to head back to Britain with her daughter after…


Husband of Woman Detained in Iran Ends Three-Week Hunger Strike

The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has criticised Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he ended his hunger strike in central London after almost three weeks. Richard Ratcliffe spent 21 days camped outside the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) without food. He began his demonstration on Oct. after his wife lost her latest appeal in Iran,…


Husband of Detained Iranian–British Woman on Hunger Strike

LONDON—The husband of UK charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been detained for more than five years in Iran, has gone on a hunger strike again after a court decided she has to spend another year in prison. Richard Ratcliffe started his fast on Sunday outside the British government’s Foreign Office in central London. He…