Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe jailed for another year in Iran

26 April 2021, 12:37 | Updated: 26 April 2021, 14:15

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been sentenced to a further year in prison on charges of "propaganda activities" in Iran, according to reports.

She completed a five-year sentence in March in Tehran on spying charges levied by Iranian authorities, the last year of which was spent under house arrest due to the pandemic.

But she returned to court later that month where she was tried on new charges of "propaganda against Iran", her MP Tulip Siddiq said.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband Richard Ratcliffe said the decision was "clearly a negotiating tactic" by the Iranian authorities, adding she had not yet been summoned to prison at this point.

Her lawyer is planning to appeal, reports said.

Some observers have linked Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case to a long-standing debt Iran alleges it is owed by the UK.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's lawyer Hojjat Kermani told The Associated Press that she received the second sentence on a charge of spreading "propaganda against the system" for participating in a protest in front of the Iranian Embassy in London in 2009.

State media in Iran did not immediately acknowledge the sentence.

Her MP Tulip Siddiq, who represents Hampstead and Kilburn, wrote on Twitter: "Thank you for all the messages regarding Nazanin. Absolutely devastating news and shocking that her husband was only just notified. Another abusive use of her as a bargaining chip. I'm speaking to the family & will update when I know more."

Boris Johnson said that the Government will be "working very hard" to secure Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release, after the British-Iranian mother of one was sentenced to an additional year in prison in Iran.

The Prime Minister told reporters during a visit to Wrexham: "Obviously we will have to study the detail of what the Iranian authorities are saying.

"I don't think it is right at all that Nazanin should be sentenced to any more time in jail.

"I think it is wrong that she is there in the first place and we will be working very hard to secure her release from Iran, her ability to return to her family here in the UK, just as we work for all our dual national cases in Iran.

"The Government will not stop, we will redouble our efforts, and we are working with our American friends on this issue as well."

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “This is a totally inhumane and wholly unjustified decision.

“We continue to call on Iran to release Nazanin immediately so she can return to her family in the UK. We continue to do all we can to support her.”