Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a “hostage” in Iran and was on the brink of being freed from jail in Iran almost two-and-a-half years ago until a planned deal collapsed, according to a new documentary.

The mother-of-one’s husband Richard Ratcliffe said the family had even been given a date of December 28 2017 for his wife’s return to the UK.

It is unclear why the deal fell through.

The revelations were made during a BBC Panorama investigation into the detention of British and other western citizens in Iran, which airs on Monday night on BBC One at 7.30pm.

It has long been claimed Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being held in order to force the UK into settling a multi-million pound dispute with Iran.

The debt dates back to the 1970s when the then-Shah of Iran paid the UK £400 million for 1,500 chieftain tanks.

When he was toppled in 1979, Britain refused to deliver the tanks to the new Islamic Republic but kept the cash, despite British courts accepting that the money should be repaid.

Panorama said that according to its sources, the Ministry of Defence has objected to the repayment.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has said the Iranian authorities have told her that her release hinges on the money being returned.

But publicly the Iranian authorities have denied any link between the debt and Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imprisonment.

The UK Foreign Office also said they do not “recognise any linkage” between the debt and her imprisonment, adding “it is unhelpful to suggest otherwise”.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has so far served four years in prison and is currently on temporary release under effective house arrest at her parents’ home in Tehran due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is unclear whether she will be permanently freed or recalled to prison.

She was arrested at Tehran airport in April 2016 as she was returning to London with her daughter, following a visit to her parents to introduce them to their grandchild.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was convicted of spying and jailed for five years.

She has been afforded diplomatic protection by the UK Government, which states that she is innocent and that her treatment by Iran failed to meet obligations under international law.

Mr Ratcliffe believes his wife is being held as “diplomatic leverage” by Iran.

The US authorities agree.

US Special Representative to Iran, Brian Hook, told Panorama Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other western detainees are effectively hostages.

“The Americans that are held in Iran are wrongfully detained and Iran has unfortunately a sad history going back to 1979 of hostage taking, when they took our American diplomats hostage,” he said.

“This is a practice. It’s a tool of statecraft.

“It’s part of Iran’s foreign policy to take people hostage who are innocent and then trade them later for some objective that they think advances their own objectives.”

Labour’s Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) raised the idea of a possible all-faith delegation, saying: “If we want peace we have got to carry on speaking to the Iranians, and all of us who’ve been campaigning for the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and the other prisoners held, believe that perhaps speaking at a level of faith, an all-faith delegation going to Iran at the present time to speak to the faith leaders in Iran might actually… would he support that sort of delegation visiting Iran?”

Mr Sheerman said he had spoken to the Archbishop of Canterbury and it could take place.

Mr Raab said: “We need to keep the diplomatic lines of communication open… I sympathise very much with the spirit of the idea of an all-faith diplomatic initiative. I think right at the moment he will have seen that we advise through our Foreign Office travel advice against travel to Iran and I think for the moment that’s probably the safest bet.”

Tory Tom Tugendhat, foreign affairs committee chairman in the last parliament, said: “Reaching out through friends in the region… would be a good avenue for making sure that Iran, not only comes back into the fold and frees people from this awful tyranny, but perhaps also gives up the policy of hostage taking that has not just taken Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe away from her daughter, but many, many others and their families too.”

A British-Iranian woman was “shackled like a caged animal” by Iranian authorities as they transferred her to a hospital mental health ward, an MP has claimed.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was “handcuffed and shackled at the ankles”, according to Labour’s Tulip Siddiq, which the Foreign Office warned would be “completely unacceptable” and contrary to international norms.

Downing Street has urged Iran to allow Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family to visit her in the hospital ward, as well as demanding her immediate release.

The 40-year-old was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport while travelling with her young daughter in April 2016 and sentenced to five years in prison after being accused of spying, a charge she vehemently denies.

Her husband Richard Ratcliffe said she was transferred from Evin prison on Monday to the mental health ward of Iman Khomeini hospital in Tehran, where she is being held under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Her father said he visited the hospital on Tuesday but was not allowed to see his daughter and she has not been allowed to contact her family.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Ms Siddiq said Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family have no idea how she is being treated following the transfer.

The MP for Hampstead and Kilburn added: “The family fear she may be drugged or being tortured and may be forced to sign a confession to unnamed crimes.”

Ms Siddiq also asked what urgent steps ministers are taking to establish the treatment Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is receiving, adding: “What protests have the Government made regarding the fact that Nazanin was shackled like a caged animal on her way to receiving urgent medical care?”

Foreign Office minister Andrew Murrison said the UK is seeking consular access and it would be “cruel” to deny Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe access to her family.

He added: “I deplore the maltreatment of prisoners wherever it occurs and the description she has given is completely unacceptable. It is completely contrary to any international norms.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman also told a Westminster briefing: “We are extremely concerned about Nazanin’s welfare and call for her immediate release, and we urge Iran to allow family members to visit her and check on her care.”

Before being transferred, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe told relatives: “I was healthy and happy when I came to Iran to see my parents.

“Three-and-a-bit years later and I am admitted to a mental health clinic.

“Look at me now, I ended up in an asylum. It should be an embarrassment.

“Prison is getting harder and harder for me. I hate being played in the middle of a political game. I just hate it.”

In a press release, the Free Nazanin Campaign said it is not known what treatment she is receiving or how long she is expected to remain in hospital.

The transfer comes after Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe went on hunger strike for 15 days last month in protest against her “unfair imprisonment”.

Mr Ratcliffe joined the hunger strike in solidarity with his wife, and camped on the pavement outside the Iranian Embassy in London.

The couple’s five-year-old daughter Gabriella has stayed in Iran with her grandparents since her mother’s arrest.

Mr Ratcliffe said: “Nazanin hoped that her hunger strike would move the Iranian authorities, and it clearly has.

“Hopefully her transfer to hospital means that she is getting treatment and care, despite my distrust of just what pressures can happen behind closed doors. It is unnerving when we don’t know what is going on.

“I am glad her dad has been down there to keep vigil outside.

“Mental hospital has its worries at the best of times – but particularly when kept isolated and under the control of the Revolutionary Guard.

“Even now it still seems like games of power and control are being played by the Iranian authorities – even at the point of hospitalisation.

“We hope again this is the beginning of the end. And yet, we were also here last summer.

“We will be following up with the new prime minister whenever that is decided to ensure he takes personal responsibility for Nazanin’s case.”

Earlier this year, Foreign Secretary and Tory leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt granted Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe diplomatic protection in a bid to resolve her case.

In a 2017 gaffe, Boris Johnson, Mr Hunt’s rival for the post of prime minister, said Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran “teaching people journalism” – despite her family’s insistence she was there to visit relatives.

He has repeatedly said the responsibility for her continued detention lies with the Revolutionary Guard.

Ellie Kennedy, Amnesty International UK’s individuals at risk campaigner, said: “Yet again, the fear must be that the Iranian authorities are playing games with Nazanin’s health and wellbeing.”

]]> 8528 https://www.faith-matters.org/iran-khamenei-says-war-unlikely-but-urges-defence-boost/ Mon, 03 Sep 2018 10:46:26 +0000 https://www.faith-matters.org/?p=7934

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday war was unlikely but called on Iran’s armed forces to boost their defence capacities, according to his official website, as the country faces increased tension with the United States.

On Saturday, Iran announced plans to boost its ballistic and cruise missile capacity and acquire modern fighter planes and submarines to boost its defences following the U.S. pullout from Tehran’s nuclear agreement with world powers.

“Ayatollah Khamenei emphasised that based on political calculations there is no likelihood of a military war but added that the armed forces must be vigilant … and raise their personnel and equipment capacities,” the website quoted Khamenei as telling commanders of Iran’s air defence forces.

“The Supreme Leader said … the air defence units were a very sensitive part of the armed forces and on the front line of confronting the enemy, and emphasized the need to increase their readiness and capabilities,” the website said in its report on the gathering, which was held to mark Iran’s Air Defence Day.

Saturday’s news of the military development plans came a day after Iran dismissed a French call for negotiations on Tehran’s future nuclear plans, its ballistic missile arsenal and its role in wars in Syria and Yemen.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said last month the Islamic Republic’s military prowess was what deterred Washington from attacking it.

Separately, a senior Iranian diplomat met visiting UK Junior Foreign Minister Alistair Burt and urged swift European action on a planned package of economic measures to offset the U.S. pullout from the accord and the reimpositions of sanctions by Washington, the state news agency IRNA reported.

“The imposition of (U.S.) sanctions and pressures and the lack of rapid action by Europe to fulfil their commitments will have serious consequences,” Kamal Kharrazi, a former foreign minister who heads a top foreign policy council, told Burt, IRNA reported.

Iranian officials have said they would decide whether to quit the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after studying the European package of economic measures that could help offset U.S. sanctions.

“European countries have not been able yet to take necessary measures to secure Iran’s interests under the nuclear agreement,” Kharrazi said.

“(Burt) said Britain’s position is different from that of the United States and we are looking for a European mechanism to make the nuclear accord successful,” IRNA reported.

In a meeting with senior parliamentarian Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, Burt referred to the case of a British-Iranian dual national detained in Iran, IRNA reported.

“I thank Iran for its humanitarian act to grant Nazanin Zaghari furlough and her meeting with her family, and we hope that this approach will continue until the release and the pardon of such people,” Burt said, according to IRNA.

Britain is seeking the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation. She was arrested in April 2016 at Tehran airport as she was heading back to Britain with her daughter, now aged four, after a family visit. She was released for three days last month.

Burt, on the first visit by a British minister since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal, earlier met Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday the talks with Burt had involved “access to banking resources and the sale of oil”.

Iran has been seeking commitment from European signatories of the nuclear deal that it will be able to access the Western banking system and continue to sell oil despite U.S. sanctions.

In a statement before his visit, Burt said: “As long as Iran meets its commitments under the deal, we remain committed to it as we believe it is the best way to ensure a safe, secure future for the region.”