Limited breakthrough in case of British mother held by Iran

London: There has been a small breakthrough in the long-running case of British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who has been held hostage in Iran for nearly five years, with authorities removing her ankle bracelet on Sunday local time.

The removal of her electronic tracker came as her five-year sentence for spying, which the Britain-Iranian aid worker denies, expired. But in a new hurdle in her battle for freedom, she will now face a second court case in Iran scheduled for next Sunday.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual national detained in Iran.Credit:AP

The 43-year-old’s ongoing detention in Iran has outraged Western countries and the United Nations. It is one of a string of so-called ‘hostage diplomacy’ cases – where nations seize innocent and often dual-national citizens as leverage – that until last November included Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert.

Australia negotiated the Melbourne woman’s freedom via a prisoner swap deal, something the British have refused to do.

Moore-Gilbert has been actively campaigning for Nazanin’s freedom since returning to Australia.

In March last year, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was moved from prison as the coronavirus pandemic swept the world and has been living under house arrest ever since.

Her British husband Richard said his wife was planning on seeing her grandmother and was “pleased” with the removal of the tag.

But he said the fight to get his wife home was far from over.

“She’s not thinking about that today, today she’s thinking about the fact the ankle tag’s off ‘I can so and see my granny,’” he told Britain’s Channel 4, referring to the dual-national’s mother who lives in Iran.

“She sent me a really nice picture of her with a grin on her face – so pleased,” he said of his wife’s reaction.

Richard Ratcliffe is still campaigning for the release of his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Credit:AP

“We’re still in the middle of it, we’re still in the middle of this game of chess,” he added.

Mr Ratfcliffe has previously suggested that the Iranians are holding his wife as part of their attempt to extract hundreds of millions of pounds in debt owed by Britain for tanks ordered before the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.

The Ratcliffe’s daughter Gabriella was one when she was separated from her mother. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained in March 2016 when she took her baby to see her parents in Tehran for Iranian New Year.

She was arrested as she tried to board a flight back home and was sentenced to five years in prison in September 2016 at what human rights campaigners on a “trumped-up charge” at a “grossly unfair trial”.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “pleased” with the development but said that she must be released permanently.

“Pleased to see the removal of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s ankle tag, but her continued confinement remains totally unacceptable,” Johnson wrote in a tweet a short time ago.

“She must be released permanently so she can return to her family in the UK, and we continue to do all we can to achieve this.”

Johnson has faced fierce criticism over Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s detention after he wrongly told the British Parliament that she was training journalists in Iran and not on holiday. He was foreign secretary at the time.

Amnesty International said Nazanin should be flying home to be with her child and husband but instead would be facing a new court hearing on Mother’s Day.

“Nazanin should never have been detained in the first place, and after facing a nightmare ordeal over the last five years, she is now at risk of a second charge and yet more time separated from her husband and young daughter.

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