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| Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Iran grants temporary release | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A British-Iranian women who was jailed for five years in 2016 after being convicted of spying has been granted temporary release from prison in Iran. | |
| Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who denies the claims, has been allowed out for three days to see her young daughter. | |
| Her family have previously criticised the UK government for not negotiating her release. | Her family have previously criticised the UK government for not negotiating her release. |
| Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is now with family including her four-year-old daughter, said she was "overwhelmed". | |
| Her husband Richard Ratcliffe said her temporary release was a "happy surprise" and she is with family in Damavand. | |
| Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at Tehran airport after visiting her family on holiday. | |
| Iranian authorities have accused her of espionage but she insists the visit was to introduce her daughter to her family. | |
| In a statement issued by the Free Nazanin campaign, Mr Ratcliffe said his wife was still in her nightclothes when she was given 10 minutes notice on Thursday morning that she was being released until Sunday 26 August. | |
| The campaign group said the furlough had been discussed for several weeks but there had been "a number of false dawns". | |
| In comments issued by the campaign, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she "wasn't expecting it at all" and it was "awesome" for her daughter Gabriella to "have mummy home". | |
| Mr Ratcliffe has campaigned for her release since she was jailed and met Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt earlier this month, who vowed to do "everything we can to bring her home". | |
| The campaign thanked "all those involved in making this possible in Tehran and London, and the new foreign secretary". | |
| Mr Ratcliffe said: "Furlough is not full freedom - we want her home, not just on holiday from prison - but it is still such a good step." | |
| Mr Hunt called the release "really good news" with credit going to the "tireless campaigning" of Mr Ratcliffe and the family's friends. | |
| "But," he added, "being in prison at all is [a] gross injustice and she must be permanently released for which every effort will continue." | |
| A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We remain very concerned about all our dual nationals detained in Iran, and continue to make decisions in line with what we believe will produce the best outcomes in their cases. | |
| "We do not think it is in the best interests of any of our dual national detainees to provide a running commentary on individual cases." |