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A British-Iranian woman held in Iran on suspicion of being a spy while travelling with her young daughter has been sentenced to five years in prison.
A British-Iranian mother detained in Iran for more than 150 days has been sentenced to five years in prison, dealing a heavy blow to her family and the UK government’s efforts to normalise relations with Iran.
Richard Ratcliffe said his wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, was sentenced on “secret charges” by a revolutionary court. He says he learned of his wife’s sentence when she called him from prison.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an employee of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the news agency’s charitable arm, was sentenced on Tuesday on charges that “remain secret”, her husband Richard Ratcliffe said.
The five-year sentence, expected to be served in Evin prison, was handed down by Judge Salavati of the revolutionary court on Tuesday – the day after the UK and Iran upgraded embassy relations.
The 37-year-old, who was accused of plotting to topple the Iranian regime, was arrested at Imam Khomeini airport on 3 April as she was trying to return to Britain after a holiday visiting family with her daughter, Gabriella.
There was no word on her sentence in Iranian state media. Iranian officials could not be reached for comment on Friday, the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday.
The toddler, who celebrated her second birthday in June without her mother or father, is being looked after by her grandparents in Tehran who speak little English.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the news agency’s charitable arm.
In a phone call to her husband on Friday morning, the charity worker from Hampstead in north-west London confirmed her sentence, expressing her disbelief and telling him she would launch an appeal against the ruling.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained in April while trying to fly out of the country with her toddler daughter, Gabriella, who remains in Iran with relatives after authorities seized her passport.
“But I don’t know how long it will take, how long it will last,” he quoted her as having said. Zaghari-Ratcliffe told her husband she preferred to stay asleep dreaming rather than “wake up each morning and remember where I am”.
The little girl, who celebrated her second birthday in June without her mother or father, is being cared for by her grandparents in Tehran who speak little English.
According to the Associated Press, she said she missed her daughter, asking: “Do you understand what it is like to be a mother kept away from her child this long?”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe phoned her husband on Friday morning to confirm the sentence, which he branded “a punishment without a crime”.
The five-year sentence, expected to be served in the Iranian capital’s notorious Evin prison, was handed down by Judge Salavati of the Revolutionary Court. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family have asked her lawyer to appeal against the decision. No date for the appeal has yet been set.
Ratcliffe said: “Nazanin’s detention and charges have always felt like she and Gabriella are being held as a political bargaining chip for internal and international politics. The fact that she was sentenced with unrecognisable charges the day after the UK embassy was upgraded, makes this all the clearer.
The sentence came just 24 hours after the British and Iranian governments established full diplomatic relations for the first time since 2011. The UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, had hailed the upgrade in diplomatic relations as an important moment.
Nicholas Hopton, the newly appointed British ambassador, will now have to demand that Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s sentence be quashed on appeal, or at the very least that embassy officials be given access to her. Iran, which does not recognise dual national status, has so far refused consular access.
The timing of the sentence appeared either an extraordinary coincidence or a calculated attempt by a hardline section of Iranian society to show that it has little interest in improving relations with the UK.
On Friday Richard Ratcliffe branded the sentence, which his wife confirmed to him by phone on Friday morning, “a punishment without a crime”.
Her husband said: “Nazanin’s detention and charges have always felt like she and Gabriella are being held as a political bargaining chip for internal and international politics. The fact that she was sentenced with unrecognisable charges the day after the UK Embassy was upgraded, makes this all the clearer.
“Why the Revolutionary Guard wishes to manoeuvre the judiciary to announce through me the sentence but not the charges I do not know,” he added.
“Why the Revolutionary Guard wishes to manoeuvre the judiciary to announce through me the sentence but not the charges I do not know,” he added.
Continuing, he said: “I told her she has nothing to apologise for. Her head will always be high. She is much loved, over 800,000 people have signed her petition, and I have thousands of messages for her to read one day. They keep me going now. They will be so important for her journey back once this cruelty is over.”
Continuing, he said: “I told her she has nothing to apologise for. Her head will always be high. She is much loved, over 800,000 people have signed her petition, and I have thousands of messages for her to read one day.
“I told her we so look forward to having her home.”
He said that family were due to visit her later on Friday. In recent interviews he has said that, during her time in detention, Zaghari-Ratcliffe has suffered dangerous weight loss, lost some of her hair and became virtually unable to walk since being imprisoned.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe told her husband on the phone that she preferred to stay asleep dreaming rather than “wake up each morning and remember where I am”. She said she missed her daughter, asking: “Do you understand what it is like to be a mother kept away from her child this long? I have missed over a fifth of her life.”
Monique Villa, chief executive of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said she was outraged and was convinced of Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s innocence.
The mother added that she was “sick” of being used in negotiations, and that the stress of the past five months had made her parents’ hair turn white.
Amnesty International UK’s individuals at risk campaign manager Kathy Voss said: “Iran’s revolutionary courts are notorious for handing down prison sentences after grossly unfair trials. From all the reports we’ve seen, Nazanin’s case has been a complete travesty of justice throughout – beginning with her protracted secret detention, then the unsupported accusations from officials, and culminating in this week’s out-of-the-blue sentence.”
On Friday afternoon relatives were due to visit Zaghari-Ratcliffe who, according to her husband, had suffered dangerous weight loss, lost some of her hair and virtually lost the ability to walk since being imprisoned.
Relatives asked Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s lawyer to appeal against the decision. No date for the appeal has yet been set.
In August, the prime minister, Theresa May, raised concerns about Zaghari-Ratcliffe, along with a number of other dual nationals held in Iran, in a telephone call with President Hassan Rouhani.
And on Monday, Britain appointed its first ambassador to Iran since 2011, which the Foreign Office called “an important step forward in the two countries’ diplomatic relations”.
Ratcliffe has previously branded the suggestion that she may have been involved in a plot to overthrow the Iranian regime “nonsense”.
Monique Villa, the chief executive of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, where Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a project manager, said she was convinced of her innocence.
She also said she was outraged at the sentence, which she called “a very serious condemnation that comes without any charges or evidence being made public”.
Villa said: “I want to reiterate my total support to Nazanin and her family in these terrible circumstances and I ask the Iranian authorities to release her as soon as possible.
“I am convinced of her innocence and reiterate that she had no dealings with Iran whatsoever in her professional capacity at the Thomson Reuters Foundation.”
The foundation would continue to work with Mr Ratcliffe, the UK Foreign Office and the British authorities to find a resolution to this “terrible situation”, she said.
Responding to reports of her sentencing, Amnesty International UK’s individuals at risk campaign manager, Kathy Voss, said: “This is extremely depressing but probably not unexpected news.
“Iran’s revolutionary courts are notorious for handing down prison sentences after grossly unfair trials.
“From all the reports we’ve seen, Nazanin’s case has been a complete travesty of justice throughout – beginning with her protracted secret detention, then the unsupported accusations from officials, and culminating in this week’s out-of-the-blue sentence.
“We’re calling on the UK government to make urgent representations on Nazanin’s case at the highest level. Unless it can be shown that she’s been charged with an internationally recognisable criminal offence and allowed to defend herself in proceedings that meet international fair trial standards, this conviction and sentence should be quashed and she should be freed.”
