‘Nazanin has clearly been held for a long time as a chess piece in a game that Iran, or more specifically the Revolutionary Guard, is playing with the UK,’ says Richard Ratcliffe, husband to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. ‘That’s going to continue.’
Nazanin, a former project manager with Thomson Reuters Foundation, has been imprisoned in Iran since April 2016, accused of ‘plotting to topple the Iranian government’ following her work with the BBC World Service Trust. After she was arrested in an Iranian airport following a visit to see family with her 22-month old daughter, Nazanin’s family have been fighting for her release ever since.
It’s been a long and arduous struggle so far, but now, with escalating tensions between Iran and the US following Donald Trump’s drone strike - that killed Revolutionary Guard leader Qassem Suleimani – her safe return is only looking more remote.
‘We’ve had a number of points where we were close to [Nazanin] coming out and it didn’t happen,’ Richard tells Grazia. ‘It feels quite a long way [off] at the moment. We’re in a space where talk of her coming home is a pipe dream for the next month. At this point, it’s just “Let’s just make sure she, and all the others, stay safe”.’
By others, Richard means the three fellow British-Iranian citizens being held in Iran who are also at the mercy of Iranian-UK relations. Yesterday, Boris Johnson called for ‘de-escalation’ on all sides of the rising conflict, with a Downing Street spokesperson confirming he has spoken with Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the Iraqi Prime Minister, to ‘find a diplomatic way forward’.
‘Boris needs to be talking to Iranian authorities and saying, “Please keep calm and protect ordinary people”, but also be talking to President Trump,’ says Richard. ‘I don’t think Trump thought through the implications [of the drone strike] for his own hostages, let alone the hostages that his allies have. And Boris needs to be saying to him, “You want to bring Americans home safe, we want to bring British people home safe, let’s make sure the policy going forwards doesn’t make that impossible”.’
According to the same Downing Street spokesperson, there have been talks between the UK and US leaders regarding Iran – with Boris reportedly warning against targeting cultural sites. However, Richard believes the UK needs to make it clear they do not support US policies that impinge on international law, if we expect Iran to follow it themselves.
‘One of the things we have been criticising the Iranians for is that they’re not upholding the rule of law,’ he says. ‘Nazanin’s case is completely fictitious and a judge told her so, we have a UN ruling under international law that she should be released that hasn’t been of aid. We are calling on the Iranian government to acknowledge their obligation [to follow the law] and that gets harder when the Americans are playing fast and loose with it.
‘That’s where the UK needs to be grounding its position,’ he continues, ‘and saying we are firm believes in the rule of law and the safety of people and I think the Prime Minister could be clearer on that.’
Fearing that the Iranian’s will interpret the UK’s lacklustre response as a sign of support for the US, or a Western conspiracy against Iran, Richard worries prisoners like Nazanin can be used as ‘human shields’ if the situation deteriorates further.
Having requested a meeting with the Prime Minister, he says if he and the fellow families of prisoners aren’t given a formal date for a meeting within the next couple of weeks – which they were promised before Christmas - that will be a political signal in and of itself.
We need the government to accept they are part of the reason she’s being held
‘The Prime Minister has tried to avoid accountability on Nazanin’s case,’ he says. ‘Part of the reason for avoiding a meeting will be not wanting to direct attention to what is a bad news story. We need to make sure the government takes our fate on its shoulders and says, “We accept her situation is terrible and she is vulnerable, and that we are part of the reason she’s being held."
'Nazanin’s not being held for anything she’s done,’ he continues. 'She’s being held because the government owes Iran some money. The fact is, this is not our fight we are caught in the middle of, this is a government to government fight and it should not be resting on the shoulders of a young woman with a small child.’
Earlier this year, it was reported that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had rejected the Foreign Office's plea to pay back a £400m debt that the UK government owe Iran from a historic British tank sale. The repayment was considered to be important to encourage Iran to release Nazanin as it would improve trust between the countries, although this was never explicitly stated as a requirement of her release by Iranian authorities.
Their daughter Gabriella, now five, last year returned to the UK from Iran, where she had been living with her grandparents. While the decision was made for Gabriella's safety, Richard says being away from their young daughter, who was sometimes allowed to visit her, has proven particularly tough on Nazanin – especially now with her future so uncertain. According to Richard, Gabriella herself - although too young to understand the gravity of the situation - asks, “Is Mummy coming home tomorrow?” every day.
To find out more about Nazanin’s case, click here.
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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Has Been Jailed In Iran On ‘Secret Charges’
A Heartbroken Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Has Sent Her Daughter Back To The UK