In news that must be stomach-churningly infuriating forNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family, her lawyers claimed today that the UK delayed securing her release from an Iranian prison for fear of... offending Donald Trump.
The British-Iranian dual citizen was initially detained in April 2016 and later sentenced to five years in jail for allegedly 'plotting to topple the Iranian government,' which she has always strenuously denied'. But now her lawyers allege that the British government has deliberately delayed payment of a £400m debt claimed by Iran – which could have helped secure her release - for fear of offending the Trump administration.
It seems from the claims that poor Nazanin has been a pawn in a game between Iran and the UK in an extraordinary miscarriage of justice. In a seven page letter to the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, Nazanin’s lawyers claim a decision to defer the next high court hearing on the debt until 4 November, a day after the US presidential election ‘in effect plays politics with the lives of British citizens.’
The message appears to be that the safety of British citizens abroad is subordinate to falling in line with US policy.
They go on: ‘The UK government is apparently waiting for implicit permission from the US government to pay the UK’s legally owed debts, payment of which would allow Nazanin (and other innocent British nationals) finally to come home. The message appears to be that the safety of British citizens abroad is subordinate to falling in line with US policy.’
Last night’s Panorama added flames to the burning fire of injustice that is Nazanin’s case by claiming she was almost freed by Iran three years ago, but the deal collapsed weeks after Boris Johnson tried to intervene.
In the documentary, Nazanin’s husband Richard Ratcliffe says his wife had been due to return to the UK on December 28 but Boris Johnson, who was Foreign Secretary at the time, made controversial comments almost two months before the release date - although the exact reason the deal failed is still unclear.
Richard was reunited with their daughter Gabriella – now six - when she returned to London from Iran in 2019. Yesterday, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that Nazanin was counting down the months until the her current sentence comes to an end next spring, but fears she may now face a second court case.
‘It’s completely outrageous to be holding people and using them as collateral,’ he told the show.
‘Behind closed doors the Government will admit things, certainly previous ministers have been quite open with us. It’s fair that neither government likes to be too honest about what is going on.’
It looks as though Nazanin hasn’t just been a victim of a miscarriage of justice at the hands of the Iranian government, but at the hands of the government of a country she desperately hopes to return to as well.
Read more: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Is 'In A Psychiatric Hospital' Says Husband