Two detained British-Iranian dual nationals leave Tehran

Two detained British-Iranian dual nationals leave Tehran
Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s position worsened when Boris Johnson, then foreign secretary, accidently said that she was “in Iran to teach journalism”.
By bne IntelliNews March 16, 2022

Two British-Iranian dual nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anousheh Ashouri have officially left Iran and are on their way back to the UK following the repayment by Britain of £400mn to the country.

“I am very pleased to confirm that the unfair detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori in Iran has ended today, and they will now return to the UK,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted.

News agency Fars News reported that both were handed over to a team at the British embassy. They had spent several years in prison and under house arrest following a bilateral dispute over a debt dating back to the time of the Shah, who had paid for Chieftain tanks in the 1970s but never received them.

Britain's government had said it was unable to pay the £400mn debt because it would have been a potential violation of US sanctions,  but the movement towards a nuclear deal with Iran appears to have unblocked the transfer.

The potential breakthrough comes as Iran is close to securing a deal to reactivate the Joint Comprehensive Pland of Action (JCPOA) agreement on Iran's nuclear power programme, which would lead to dropping of sanctions on Tehran. A deal has been held up by a last minute intervention by Russia – one of the parties to the agreement – to demand written guarantees from the US that sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine would not affect its trade and investment with Iran.

The UK confirmed that it has repaid Iran the money it had received for the sale of Chieftain tanks, which were not delivered before the 1979 Islamic Revolution which overthrew the Shah. The two passport holders have been held for several years in both solitary confinement and under house arrest in what was widely seen as a case of hostage taking to force the repayment of the debt.

"The IMS debt has been settled in full compliance with UK and international sanctions and all legal obligations. These funds will be ring-fenced solely for the purchase of humanitarian goods," the UK foreign office said in a statement on March 16.

Ashouri was sent down for 10 years in jail in 2019 for allegedly spying for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and two years for "acquiring illegitimate wealth".

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project worker with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at a Tehran airport in April 2016. She had spent years in a special cellblock of Tehran’s Evin Prison controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). She was charged with attempting to overthrow the Islamic Republic and accused of working for the BBC.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation previously said that she had travelled to Iran in a personal capacity and had not been doing work in Iran.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s position worsened when Johnson, then foreign secretary, accidently said that she was “in Iran to teach journalism”. This was immediately picked up by the IRGC, who then increased pressure on the family.

Morad Tahbaz, a British-US-Iranian national, has also reportedly been temporarily released from prison. Tahbaz was among a group of Wildlife conservationists accused of espionage in Iran after using cameras to track endangered species. 

A fourth British-Iranian, Mehran Raoof,  a labour rights activist, is still detained in Iran.

 

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