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Iran’s decision to press new charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is illegal and shows that she is being held hostage, said her husband, Richard Ratcliffe.
He called on the British government to do everything possible to protect her, including demanding that UK officials be allowed to attend her trial on Sunday.
Iranian judicial officials told Zaghari-Ratcliffe at a hearing on Tuesday that he faces new charges. The British-Iranian dual national has already served four years of a five-year sentence and is being held under a form of house arrest at her parents’ home in Tehran.
Chronology
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s Imprisonment in Iran
Arrest in Tehran
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is arrested at Imam Khomeini Airport as she tries to return to Britain after a vacation visiting her family with her daughter, Gabriella.
Launch campaign begins
Sentenced
Hunger strike
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s health is deteriorating after spending several days on a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment.
The appeal fails
Boris Johnson intervenes
Boris Johnson, then foreign secretary, tells a select parliamentary committee “When we look at what [she] she was doing, she was just teaching journalism to people. “Four days after her comments, Zaghari-Ratcliffe returns to court, where her statement is cited as evidence against her. Her employers, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, deny that she has Trained journalists, and her family maintain that she was in Iran on vacation. Johnson is finally forced to apologize for the “heartbreak and anguish” her comments cause in the family.
Health concerns
Her husband reveals that Zaghari-Ratcliffe fears for her health after lumps were found in her breasts that required an ultrasound, and that she was now “on the verge of a nervous breakdown.”
Hunt meets her husband
Temporary release
He is granted a temporary release of three days.
Hunger strike
Diplomatic protection
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt takes the unusual step of granting him diplomatic protection, a move that elevates his case from consular matter to the level of a dispute between the two states.
Travel warning
The UK updates its travel recommendations for dual British-Iranian citizens, and for the first time advises against all travel to Iran. The council also urges Iranian citizens living in the UK to exercise caution if they decide to travel to Iran.
Hunger strike in London
Richard Ratcliffe joins his wife in a new hunger strike campaign. He fasts in front of the Iranian embassy in London as she begins a third hunger strike protest in prison.
The hunger strike ends
Zaghari-Ratcliffe ends her hunger strike with breakfast. Her husband also ends his strike in front of the embassy.
Transferred to the mental health ward
According to her husband, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was transferred from Evin prison to the Imam Khomeini hospital mental ward, where the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has prevented her relatives from contacting her.
Daughter returns to London
Gabriella, the five-year-old daughter of Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has lived with her grandparents in Tehran and regularly visited her mother in prison for the past three years, returns to London to start school.
Temporary release
Amid the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, she is temporarily released from prison, but will be asked to wear an ankle brace and not move more than 300 meters from her parents’ home.
New charges
Iranian state media reports that he will appear in court to face new and unspecified charges.
In a statement, Richard Ratcliffe said: “It has become increasingly clear in recent months that Nazanin is a hostage, held as leverage against a UK debt. It is important that the UK government do all it can to protect him and others as Iran’s hostage diplomacy continues to escalate.
“This starts with the British embassy insisting that it can attend Nazanin’s trial on Sunday and that the UK’s diplomatic protection is treated with respect.
“While we feel close to being released in recent months, yesterday Nazanin was taken to the revolutionary court for a second reopened court case. His trial will be on Sunday. The case is illegal under Iranian law, as is the fact that Nazanin was not yet released in March. “
