Iranian-British woman Zaghari-Ratcliffe gets another year in prison: Lawyer
In this Jan 16, 2017, file photo, Richard Ratcliffe, husband of imprisoned British-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe - poses during an Amnesty International-led vigil outside the Iranian Embassy in London. (File photo: AP/Alastair Grant)
TEHRAN: An Iranian-British woman long held in Tehran has been sentenced to another year in prison, her lawyer said on Monday (Apr 26), drawing immediate criticism from Britain in the high-profile case that has prompted international condemnation of Iran.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has already served a five-year prison sentence in the Islamic Republic.
Her lawyer, Hojjat Kermani, told the Associated Press that she received the second sentence on a charge of spreading “propaganda against the system” for participating in a protest in front of the Iranian Embassy in London in 2009.
State media in Iran did not immediately acknowledge the sentence. Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, told the BBC the court’s decision was a bad sign and “clearly a negotiating tactic” by the Iranian authorities. Her sentencing comes amid ongoing negotiations in Vienna over Iran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson immediately condemned the new sentence.
“I don’t think it is right at all that Nazanin should be sentenced to any more time in jail,” he said. “I think it is wrong that she is there in the first place and we will be working very hard to secure her release from Iran, her ability to return to her family here in the UK, just as we work for all our dual national cases in Iran."
Johnson added: "The government will not stop, we will redouble our efforts, and we are working with our American friends on this issue as well.” Johnson and his office declined to elaborate on that comment.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab bluntly called Iran's sentence “a totally inhumane and wholly unjustified decision”.
“We continue to call on Iran to release Nazanin immediately so she can return to her family in the UK," he said in a statement. "We continue to do all we can to support her.”
The latest twist in Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case comes as Britain and Iran negotiate a long-running dispute over a debt of some £400 million (US$530 million) owed to Tehran by London. Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the late Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi paid the sum for Chieftain tanks that were never delivered.
While Iran has denied any connection to the tank payment, Zaghari-Ratcliffe's family and their supporters have linked the two.
“It is devastating to see Nazanin once again being abusively used as bargaining chip," said Tulip Siddiq, who serves as Zaghari-Ratcliffe's local parliament member.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of plotting the overthrow of Iran’s government, a charge that she, her supporters and rights groups deny. While employed at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency, she was taken into custody at the Tehran airport in April 2016 as she was returning home to Britain after visiting family.
Rights groups accuse Iran of holding dual-nationals as bargaining chips for money or influence in negotiations with the West, something Tehran denies. Iran does not recognise dual nationalities, so detainees like Zaghari-Ratcliffe cannot receive consular assistance.
A United Nations panel has criticised what it describes as “an emerging pattern involving the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of dual nationals” in Iran.
Authorities had released Zaghari-Ratcliffe from prison on furlough last March because of the surging COVID-19 pandemic, and she had been detained in her parents’ Tehran home since.
