In the hands of Iranian justice since 2016, the Iranian-British Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to a new sentence of one year in prison, one of his lawyers said on Monday (April 26th), confirming information from the NGO Amnesty International and British media. Mme Zaghari-Ratcliffe also receives a one-year ban on leaving Iran after his release, added Mr.e Hojjat Kermani. “The verdict is still preliminary and we are appealing within the legal deadline of twenty days from today”, he clarified.
“It’s not normal at all”, indignant the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who assured that London counted ” Work hard “ to obtain his release. “It’s a completely inhuman and unjustified decision”, added the head of diplomacy, Dominic Raab, in a statement.
Project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, philanthropic arm of the news agency of the same name, Mme Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 42, was arrested in 2016 in Tehran, where she had just visited her family. Accused of having hatched a plot to overthrow the Islamic Republic – allegations she fiercely denies – she was sentenced to five years in prison.
She completed her sentence under house arrest on March 7. And has since appeared for “Propaganda against the system [politique de la République islamique], for participating in a rally outside the Iranian Embassy in London in 2009 ”, according to his lawyer.
“Negotiation tactics”
This issue has fueled tensions between London and Tehran for years. On the BBC, her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, sees in this new conviction “A negotiation tactic” to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
In the past, he had felt that his wife was the“Hostage” of a political game about an old debt contracted by the United Kingdom when the Shah had bought it for 400 million pounds (467 million euros) of tanks. London then refused to deliver them when the leader was ousted in 1979, however retaining the money.
In mid-March, the British NGO Redress ruled in a report that Mr.me Zaghari-Ratcliffe suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder after suffering ” bad treatments “ and that it should therefore be recognized by London as “Victim of torture”. The Iranian authorities have always denied any mistreatment against him.
Tehran, which does not recognize dual nationality, has consistently denied the UK consular access to Mr.me Zaghari-Ratcliffe while in prison and dismisses London’s calls for her release as interference in her internal affairs.
