Yesterday, it was reported by Reuters news agency that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been detained in Iran for six years, would finally be released and be able to return to the UK. The news was met with jubilation for those who have tirelessly campaigned to have her released.

After some initial uncertainty as to whether her release would be fully secured after her passport was returned to her the previous day, it was eventually confirmed by her MP Tulip Siddiq that she was on her way back home, sharing a photo of her on the plane.

Who is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and why was she detained?

Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a British-Iranian who was born and raised in Tehran, Iran’s capital. She moved to the UK in 2007, and later worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation as a project manager. She travelled to Iran in March of 2016 to visit her family with her 22 month old daughter.

Just before she was able to board a plane to return home a month later, she was arrested by Iranian authorities at the airport, and her daughter was kept in the care of Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s parents. She was accused of spying and conspiracy to topple the Iranian government (though the official charges were never revealed), something vehemently denied by her and those campaigning for her release.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a British-Iranian who was born and raised in Tehran

Negotiations and diplomacy with Iran continued for the next six years

What happened next?

Following her arrest, numerous attempts were made to secure her release by the British government. Zaghari-Ratcliffe lost a final appeal in 2017, and the foreign office tried unsuccessfully to negotiate her release on a number of occasions. Zaghari-Ratcliffe also went on a short hunger strike in 2019 to protest lack of proper medical treatment, and later a 15 day hunger strike to protest her release.

Although she was briefly reunited with her daughter during a 3 day temporary release, she was described by her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, as being in fragile mental health. Negotiations and diplomacy with Iran continued for the next six years, with the Theresa May government granting her diplomatic protection, making her case into a dispute between two governments. She was again briefly released due to Covid-19, but still unable to leave.

Why is she now being released?

In April of last year, Nadanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to another year in jail, due to another new charge, and later lost a second appeal. However, negotiation efforts began to make headway earlier this year, and in recent days it seemed like her release was imminent.

The main reason for the release, it seems, is that the sometimes difficult UK-Iranian relations have somewhat thawed, and Zaghari-Ratcliffe was no longer needed by Iran’s government: essentially, she was being held as a bargaining chip to pressure and gain leverage with the British government. It is believed by some (including Richard Ratcliffe) that she was kept imprisoned for negotiation reasons due to a debt owed by Britain to Iran dating back to the 1970s.

In recent days it seemed like her release was imminent

Nazanin and Richard said that they looked forward to starting their new life reunited

So, is Zaghari-Ratcliffe finally free?

Yes- she has now finally been released and flew back to the UK having regained her passport. Alongside her, Anoosheh Ashoori, a British-Iranian man who had been sentenced to prison in Iran in 2019, was also released and travelled back with her. Foreign secretary Liz Truss confirmed that she would be returning to the UK yesterday evening, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed his gladness at her release.

 

Both British-Iranians touched down in the UK in the early hours of this morning, and were finally reunited with their families. As they departed the plane, Zagahri-Ratcliffe’s daughter Gabriella was heard asking “is that mummy?” in a video shared by Ashoori’s daughter Elika. She then rushed to hug her mother, and the group then briefly spoke with Truss, who had travelled to the airport to welcome them back. Nazanin and Richard said that they looked forward to starting their new life reunited.

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