{"id":2807,"date":"2022-03-16T15:28:10","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T15:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worabia.com\/news\/top-trends\/2807\/"},"modified":"2022-03-16T15:28:10","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T15:28:10","slug":"who-is-nazanin-zaghari-ratcliffe-and-why-was-she-jailed-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worabia.com\/news\/top-trends\/2807\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and why was she jailed in Iran?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been released by Iran and is flying back to the UK. <\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The British-Iranian had been arrested in April 2016 and spent nearly six years in detention for allegedly plotting against the Iranian government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Foreign Secretary has confirmed that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe will fly to the UK via Oman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hopes for his release were raised yesterday after news that his British passport had been returned to him. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Retired British-Iranian civil engineer Anoosheh Ashoori, another dual national held by Iran, was also released and is on the same flight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Another dual citizen, Morad Tahbaz, has been released from prison on leave, but remains in Iran.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, has dual British and Iranian citizenship and prior to her arrest lived in London with her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, who is an accountant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She worked as a project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation charity and was previously employed by BBC Media Action, an international development charity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Iranian authorities alleged that Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was plotting to overthrow the Tehran government, but no official charges were made public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said she was running a “foreign-linked hostile network” when she visited.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She says she had been taking her daughter Gabriella, now six, to celebrate the Iranian New Year and visit her parents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Both the Thomson Reuters Foundation and BBC Media Action issued statements saying that she was not working in Iran but was vacationing there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In April 2021, after spending the last year of her term on probation at her parents’ home in Tehran, Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to an additional year in prison and a one-year travel ban, after be found guilty of propaganda against the Iranian government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe subsequently lost an appeal against her second conviction. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Foreign Secretary Liz Truss denounced the decision as “a terrible continuation of the cruel ordeal” the mother was going through.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Successive Foreign Secretaries led unsuccessful efforts to secure Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband says he was told she was being held to force the UK to resolve a multi-million dollar dispute dating back to the 1970s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Iran claimed that the UK owed \u00a3400m in debt related to a canceled order for 1,500 Chieftain tanks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Announcing Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release, Ms Truss said the debt had been settled “in parallel” and “in full compliance with UK and international sanctions and all legal obligations”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She said negotiations had been taking place over the past few months with Iran and with the help of the Gulf state of Oman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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