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Has Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe been released?

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Has Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe been released?
Has Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe been released?

NAZANIN Zaghari-Radcliffe was jailed in 2016 for a crime that she didn't commit.

Here, we look at what happened to her, and where she is now.

 Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe was arrested in Iran in 2016 eiqreiddideprw
Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe was arrested in Iran in 2016Credit: AP

Who is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe?

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a British-Iranian mum, Thomson Reuters Foundation project manager, and former BBC employee.

On April 3, 2016, she was arrested at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport and accused of plotting to topple the Iranian regime.

Nazanin was prevented from returning home to the UK after visiting family with her daughter Gabriella, she was then imprisoned and spent months in solitary confinement.

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According to her family, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard attempted to cajole Nazanin into confessing to training and recruiting spies - a charge she denied.

The mother of one was sentenced to five years in jail in 2016.

Then in April 2021, she was handed another one-year sentence and travel ban after being accused of spreading propaganda.

When was Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe released and what has she said since?

According to MP Tulip Siddiq, the British-Iranian detainee received her passport on Tuesday, March 15,  2022.

Her lawyer said that both she and Anoosheh Ashouri, another detained British-Iranian, were on their way to Tehran airport on Wednesday, March 16, 2022.

And just before midday UK time a source close to the family said the pair were on a plane out of Iran.

Labour MP Siddiq tweeted: "Nazanin is at the airport in Tehran and on her way home.

"I came into politics to make a difference, and right now I’m feeling like I have. More details to follow. #FreeNazanin"

Just the day before, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn hinted that Nazanin could be released soon, when she revealed via Twitter that: "Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been given her British passport back" and that "there is a British negotiating team in Tehran right now".

The mum was seen hugging her daughter Gabriella after landing at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire at around 1am on Thursday, March 17, 2022.

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After her release Nazanin said she was rebuilding her relationship with her daughter.

She said: “I left my daughter when she wasn’t even two.

"Now she is eight years old and I am looking forward to spending time and getting to know them better.

"My memory faded as time went by but the most vivid I had was of Gabriella playing. But it did fade over time.”

She added: “I am enjoying getting to hold her and brush her hair and braid her hair."

The charity worked said of her ordeal: "It will be with me - it is never going to leave you alone.

"But I think at the moment I would rather just focus on the moments of coming back.

"I always felt like I am holding this black hole in my heart all these years, but I'm just going to leave that black hole on the plane.

"Over the past six years, it has been cruel, what happened to me but I’m not going to live for the rest of my life with a grudge."

Nazanin also praised her “amazing, wonderful” husband Richard.

Why was Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe jailed?

Nazanin was convicted of plotting the "soft toppling" of the Iranian government and sentenced to five years behind bars in September 2016.

She was set to become eligible for early release in late 2017 or early 2018 but was taken back to court and confronted with two new charges.

The 43-year-old was accused of receiving money from organisations working to overthrow the Islamic Republic.

On August 23, 2018, she was given a three-day release from prison to visit her daughter - who was staying with an Iranian family.

Fears had been growing for her mental wellbeing, as reports claimed Nazanin was "suicidal" as she awaited a round of sentencing.

On December 24, 2018, Nazanin's husband Richard Ratcliffe joined London Mayor Sadiq Khan to brand her incarceration a "travesty of justice".

In March 2020, she was temporarily released in a response to the Covid pandemic.

She was one of 85,000 prisoners released by Iran and was allowed to live with her parents wearing an ankle tag.

Then in April 2021 Nazanin was handed another year-long long sentence and a travel ban, which left her under house arrest in Tehran and unable to return to her husband and daughter in London.

What happened to Nazanin's husband and daughter?

Nazanin's husband Mark Radcliffe campaigned publicly following her arrest.

Just two weeks after Nazanin’s arrest in April 2016 he delivered a petition of 500,000 names to Downing Street when it was unclear why she had been held.

In March 2021 he and the couple's six-year-old daughter Gabriella protested outside the Iranian embassy in Knightsbridge.

In November 2021 he embarked on a 21 day long hunger strike outside the foreign office, protesting for his wife's release.

He ended his hunger strike protest after 21 days, "because their daughter needs two parents".

Gabriella, who was visiting family in Iran with her mother when she was arrested, moved back to London in 2019 to be with her dad.

Gabriella lived with her grandparents in Iran following her mother's incarceration, she then flew home to the UK at the age of five to start school and be with her dad.

Tom Michael

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