LONDON – Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman detained in Tehran since 2016, lifted her house arrest warrant when her sentence ended on Sunday, but her return to London has remained uncertain as she faces new charges.
The case of me. Zaghari-Ratcliffe has deepened a diplomatic rift between Britain and Iran over the past five years, causing international condemnation. But exactly what will happen next is still unclear – a general state of affairs during much of her time in detention, a period full of expectations and hope for her family and supporters.
Me. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was convicted of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government and has been detained at her parents’ home in Tehran since last year. Her lawyer Hojjat Kermani told Iranian state news agency IRNA on Sunday afternoon that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been released from house arrest but was instructed to appear in court next week on additional charges.
Her single monitor has been removed, but she is still without her passport. Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, spoke Sunday morning, saying she was “definitely happy” to get the single plate off.
He said the decision “was not quite what we expected, but it makes sense.”
“It solves the anomaly of the end of her sentence, but keeps her as leverage,” he said. “It feels to me a little more like the games are going on.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, denied the charges. Legal groups, Western officials and the United Nations have said her case is one of many cases in which Iran has arbitrarily detained foreigners on unfounded charges, many of whom are dual citizens like Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to normalize what it calls hostage diplomacy with the West by arresting people on trump charges and then using them as political bargaining chips. Iran denied the allegations, arguing that dealing with Iranian citizens such as Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a domestic matter.
The British Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, said on Sunday that although he was removing Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s single is welcomed, her “constant confinement is unacceptable”.
“She needs to be released on a permanent basis so that she can return to her family in the UK,” he said. Raab said in a statement. “We will continue to do everything in our power to achieve that.”
Earlier interactions with the Iranian authorities led Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family is preparing for the worst before the Sunday deadline, including that the day would pass without her being released. Mr. Ratcliffe said he was worried she would “move past a point that is the obvious decision point, which makes us hope we get her home.”
The ordeal began in April 2016 when Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was stopped at Tehran airport after visiting family in Iran with her daughter, Gabriella.
Me. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who worked as a project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was tried and eventually jailed in the infamous Evin prison in Tehran, where she spent time in solitary confinement and struggled with her mental and physical health.
The British government granted her diplomatic protection in 2019 in an effort to win her freedom, and her transfer to house arrest last March when the coronavirus pandemic swept away the hope that she would get mercy and permission to to return to Britain.
But in September, Iran filed new charges against her and planned a new trial, although it was eventually stopped. The request that she appear in court in Tehran this month is related to the charges in which she is accused of spreading propaganda against the Iranian government.
“In my opinion, this is clearly a game of chess. She is the pawn, ‘said Mr. Ratcliffe said in an interview last week. “And that’s not the start of the game.”
Her husband had earlier expressed hope that she might be in a plane on Monday, but Sunday’s developments make it seem unlikely.
“She’s been counting down to this date for 18 months,” he said. “There’s something very disturbing about going through the threshold, because if it can happen, anything can happen.”
According to her husband, Iranian officials told me. Zaghari-Ratcliffe said her detention would end when Britain settled a four-decade-old debt of £ 400 million, now worth about $ 550 million, linked to a failed arms deal with the shah of Iran. before his overthrow in 1979.
Me. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained just before a debt battle was to begin in a London court. Iran said the guilt was not a factor in her detention.
Mr. Ratcliffe is critical of what he describes as a wait-and-see approach by British officials over his wife’s status, but he said he was more hopeful after meeting with Mr. Raab, the foreign minister, met.
A spokesman for the British Foreign Office said in a statement that Raab and the department “remain in close contact with Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family, and continue to provide our support.” It criticizes her detention as a diplomatic lever. ‘
“We are still doing our best to free the release of dual British citizens who are being held arbitrarily so that they can reunite with their loved ones,” the statement said.
Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty International UK, called the developments ‘bitter’ on Sunday and called on the British Foreign Office to take action.
“After all that Nazanin has been through, it feels like another example of the calculated cruelty of the Iranian authorities,” she said. Allen said in a statement, adding that the possibility of a new trial was intended to release Zaghari-Ratcliffe and put pressure.
“It will only be over before Nazanin has her passport and is on a flight to the UK,” she said. Allen said.
For now, Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family in an attitude pattern.
“This is perpetual ambiguity,” he said. Ratcliffe said, referring to the constant question about “maybe she’s home, maybe it’s getting worse, maybe it’s staying the same.”