Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
Zaghari-Ratcliffe in 2011
Born
Nazanin Zaghari

(1978-12-26) 26 December 1978 (age 45)
Tehran, Imperial State of Iran
Citizenship
  • Iran
  • United Kingdom (since 2013)[1]
Education
Known forImprisonment in Iran (2016–2022)
Spouse
Richard Ratcliffe
​
(m. 2009)​
Children1
AwardsBBC 100 Women (2022)[2]

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (née Zaghari; Persian: نازنین زاغری; born 26 December 1978)[3] is an Iranian-British dual citizen who was detained in Iran from 3 April 2016 to 16 March 2022 as part of a long-running dispute between Britain and Iran.[4] In early September 2016, she was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of plotting to topple the Iranian government.[5][6] While in prison, she went on at least three hunger strikes trying to persuade Iranian authorities to provide medical treatment for her health problems.[4] She was temporarily released on 17 March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, but subject to electronic monitoring.[7]

In October 2017, the prosecutor general of Tehran made a new claim that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was being held for running "a BBC Persian online journalism course which was aimed at recruiting and training people to spread propaganda against Iran".[8] Zaghari-Ratcliffe has always denied the spying charges against her, and her husband maintains that his wife "was imprisoned as leverage for a debt owed by the UK over its failure to deliver tanks to Iran in 1979."[9]

On 7 March 2021, her original sentence ended, but she was scheduled to face a second set of charges on 14 March.[10] On 26 April, she was found guilty of propaganda activities against the government and sentenced to another year in prison.[11] She appealed but on 16 October 2021, her appeal was rejected by the Iranian court.[12] Zaghari-Ratcliffe was finally released on 16 March 2022[13] immediately after Britain repaid the outstanding debt of £393.8 million to Iran.[14] She returned to the United Kingdom the next day.[15]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference redresslegal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "BBC 100 Women 2022: Who is on the list this year?". BBC News. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe spends 40th birthday in Iranian jail". The Guardian. 26 December 2018. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  4. ^ a b Dean, Sarah; Lyons, Emmet; Said-Moorhouse, Lauren (27 April 2021). "Iran sentences British-Iranian charity worker to another year in jail". CNN. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbc-20160910 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference thetimesbritishmother was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe temporarily released from Iranian prison amid coronavirus outbreak fears". Sky News. 17 March 2020.
  8. ^ Saeed Kamali Dehghan (6 November 2017). "Boris Johnson 'mistake' could harm case for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, say family". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  9. ^ "Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe sentenced to a year in Iran prison". BBC. 26 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe freed but may face new charges". The Guardian. 7 March 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  11. ^ Vesty, Sarah; Kitching, Chris (26 April 2021). "Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe jailed for 12 months and banned from leaving Iran over 'propaganda' charges". MSN News. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: British-Iranian aid worker loses court appeal in Iran". BBC News. 16 October 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  13. ^ "Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori on way home to UK". BBC News. 16 March 2022. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  14. ^ Dixon, Hayley (16 March 2022). "Liz Truss confirms £400m debt repaid to Iran, as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe freed". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  15. ^ "Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori back with families". BBC News. 17 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.