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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been told to “pack a suitcase” to return to prison after being summoned to court on new charges, according to her husband.
the British-Iranian mother She has been detained in Iran since 2016 when she was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of conspiring to overthrow the Iranian government, which she denies.
Richard Ratcliffe said that his wife, who has been out of prison on leave but under house arrest in Tehran since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was told that he needed to pack a suitcase to take to a new court hearing on Monday as It would end up in his incarceration again.
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“We do not know what will happen on Monday; we do not know how far and when they will carry out their threat of prison,” he said.
“But we do know that the Revolutionary Guards are signaling something to the British government. We also know that they are signaling that this could have a long time to go.”
Just a few months away from its planned release date, Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe he was returned to court in September and told to prepare for a second trial that was postponed on short notice and with no future date.
Her husband said he would hear charges of spreading anti-government propaganda, in a case that officials withdrew in December 2017, after a visit by then-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, but reopened in May 2018.
Ratcliffe claimed the new charges related to his wife’s arrest as “bargaining chips” amid a £ 400 million dispute between the UK and Iran.
The debt dates back to the 1970s, when the then Shah of Iran paid the UK £ 400 million for 1,500 Chieftain tanks.
After its overthrow in 1979, Britain refused to hand over the tanks to the new Islamic Republic and kept the money, despite the fact that British courts accepted that it should be reimbursed.
Richard Ratcliffe with his daughter and Mrs. Zaghari-Ratcliffe
The penalties mean that there is currently no legal way for the UK to make refunds.
Ratcliffe said he had a series of “difficult” calls with his wife after the subpoena, while she expressed concern that he was “paying the price” for the postponement of the debt case.
She told her husband on Wednesday, “I’m the one paying the price. What am I supposed to do? Just pack a bag and agree that I’ll be back?”
“I am so desperate. I promise I will not return. I am dying of this stress, of being taken back.”
“I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m almost paralyzed. I envy everyone who is free.”
The UK contends that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe is innocent
If Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 42, was not back in the UK for Christmas, Ratcliffe said, there is “every chance this will go on for years.”
“I really hope that there is something that they do not tell us, since, at first glance, the government’s response seems disastrous, simply extraordinary that they will not change course.”
Ratcliffe said that he had spoken with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to ask him to formally assert the UK’s right to consular access by visiting Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and attending the trial.
In a tweet, Raab called on Iran to release Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, saying her treatment is “unacceptable and unjustified.”
“It tarnishes Iran’s reputation and is causing enormous distress to Nazanin and his family. Iran must end its arbitrary detention and that of all British citizens with dual nationality,” the tweet read.
Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport while traveling to show her young daughter, Gabriella, to her parents in April 2016.
Later, the UK government granted him diplomatic protection, arguing that he is innocent and that his treatment by Iran did not comply with the obligations of international law.
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