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| Iran rejects fresh UK call to release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe | Iran rejects fresh UK call to release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe |
| (5 days later) | |
| The Iranian foreign ministry has dismissed a fresh UK call to release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the Iranian-British dual national in jail on espionage charges, despite it being delivered personally by a Foreign Office minister. | The Iranian foreign ministry has dismissed a fresh UK call to release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the Iranian-British dual national in jail on espionage charges, despite it being delivered personally by a Foreign Office minister. |
| Andrew Murrison made the appeal for Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release on his first visit to Tehran, where he quickly discovered the low standing with which Britain is held in Iranian government circles. | Andrew Murrison made the appeal for Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release on his first visit to Tehran, where he quickly discovered the low standing with which Britain is held in Iranian government circles. |
| Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, said Zaghari-Ratcliffe would have to serve her sentence, denouncing a hunger strike by her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, outside the Iranian embassy in London as “blackmail”. | Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, said Zaghari-Ratcliffe would have to serve her sentence, denouncing a hunger strike by her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, outside the Iranian embassy in London as “blackmail”. |
| Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is arrested at Imam Khomeini airport as she is trying to return to Britain after a holiday visiting family with her daughter, Gabriella. | Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is arrested at Imam Khomeini airport as she is trying to return to Britain after a holiday visiting family with her daughter, Gabriella. |
| Her husband, Richard Radcliffe, delivers a letter to David Cameron in 10 Downing Street, demanding the government do more for her release. | Her husband, Richard Radcliffe, delivers a letter to David Cameron in 10 Downing Street, demanding the government do more for her release. |
| She is sentenced to five years in jail. Her husband says the exact charges are still being kept a secret. | She is sentenced to five years in jail. Her husband says the exact charges are still being kept a secret. |
| Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's health deteriorates after she spends several days on hunger strike in protest at her imprisonment. | Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's health deteriorates after she spends several days on hunger strike in protest at her imprisonment. |
| Iran’s supreme court upholds her conviction. | Iran’s supreme court upholds her conviction. |
| Boris Johnson, then Foreign Secretary, tells a parliamentary select committee "When we look at what [she] was doing, she was simply teaching people journalism". Four days after his comments, Zaghari-Ratcliffe is returned to court, where his statement is cited in evidence against her. Her employers, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, deny that she has ever trained journalists, and her family maintain she was in Iran on holiday. Johnson is eventually forced to apologise for the "distress and anguish" his comments cause the family. | Boris Johnson, then Foreign Secretary, tells a parliamentary select committee "When we look at what [she] was doing, she was simply teaching people journalism". Four days after his comments, Zaghari-Ratcliffe is returned to court, where his statement is cited in evidence against her. Her employers, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, deny that she has ever trained journalists, and her family maintain she was in Iran on holiday. Johnson is eventually forced to apologise for the "distress and anguish" his comments cause the family. |
| Her husband reveals that Zaghari-Ratcliffe has fears for her health after lumps had been found in her breasts that required an ultrasound scan, and that she was now “on the verge of a nervous breakdown”. | Her husband reveals that Zaghari-Ratcliffe has fears for her health after lumps had been found in her breasts that required an ultrasound scan, and that she was now “on the verge of a nervous breakdown”. |
| New Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt meets with Richard Ratcliffe, and pledges "We will do everything we can to bring her home." | New Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt meets with Richard Ratcliffe, and pledges "We will do everything we can to bring her home." |
| She is granted a temporary three day release from prison. | She is granted a temporary three day release from prison. |
| Zaghari-Ratcliffe is on hunger strike again, in protest at the withdrawal of her medical care. | Zaghari-Ratcliffe is on hunger strike again, in protest at the withdrawal of her medical care. |
| Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt takes the unusual step of granting her diplomatic protection - a move that raises her case from a consular matter to the level of a dispute between the two states. | Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt takes the unusual step of granting her diplomatic protection - a move that raises her case from a consular matter to the level of a dispute between the two states. |
| The UK upgrades its travel advice to British-Iranian dual nationals, for the first time advising against all travel to Iran. The advice also urges Iranian nationals living in the UK to exercise caution if they decide to travel to Iran. | The UK upgrades its travel advice to British-Iranian dual nationals, for the first time advising against all travel to Iran. The advice also urges Iranian nationals living in the UK to exercise caution if they decide to travel to Iran. |
| Richard Ratcliffe joins his wife in a new hunger strike campaign. He fasts outside the Iranian embassy in London as she began a third hunger strike protest in prison. | Richard Ratcliffe joins his wife in a new hunger strike campaign. He fasts outside the Iranian embassy in London as she began a third hunger strike protest in prison. |
| Zaghari-Ratcliffe ends her hunger strike by eating some breakfast. Her husband also ends his strike outside the embassy. | |
| Araghchi said: “The Islamic Republic of Iran’s judiciary will not be influenced by such acts of blackmail, and those convicted of espionage must serve their terms.” | Araghchi said: “The Islamic Republic of Iran’s judiciary will not be influenced by such acts of blackmail, and those convicted of espionage must serve their terms.” |
| Ratcliffe, a tireless campaigner for his wife’s release from a Tehran jail for the past three years is on the 10th day of a hunger strike in solidarity with his wife, who is protesting against her conditions in Evin prison. She was arrested in April 2016 and given a five-year sentence for espionage, a charge she denies. At times the Iranians have threatened a second set of charges. | Ratcliffe, a tireless campaigner for his wife’s release from a Tehran jail for the past three years is on the 10th day of a hunger strike in solidarity with his wife, who is protesting against her conditions in Evin prison. She was arrested in April 2016 and given a five-year sentence for espionage, a charge she denies. At times the Iranians have threatened a second set of charges. |
| Their five-year-old daughter, Gabriella, has been deprived of her weekly visit to see her mother in jail, possibly because the Iranian authorities are angered by Richard Ratcliffe’s high-profile protest. | Their five-year-old daughter, Gabriella, has been deprived of her weekly visit to see her mother in jail, possibly because the Iranian authorities are angered by Richard Ratcliffe’s high-profile protest. |
| Araghchi also criticised the UK government’s support for the US, saying: “It appears that the British government’s entanglement with the predicament of Brexit has prevented it from having a correct understanding of the global realities. Immature companionship with America’s bully-style measures will result in nothing but an increase in the Iranians’ historical aversion to the UK policies.” | Araghchi also criticised the UK government’s support for the US, saying: “It appears that the British government’s entanglement with the predicament of Brexit has prevented it from having a correct understanding of the global realities. Immature companionship with America’s bully-style measures will result in nothing but an increase in the Iranians’ historical aversion to the UK policies.” |
| He also raised the UK’s outstanding £400m debt to the Iranian nation going back more than 40 years, which is related to the British government’s refusal to honour a contract for Chieftain tanks sold to the Shah of Iran in 1976, but never received. Araghchi called for an immediate settlement of the debts, stressing that the UK government’s refusal to do so was not acceptable or justified. | He also raised the UK’s outstanding £400m debt to the Iranian nation going back more than 40 years, which is related to the British government’s refusal to honour a contract for Chieftain tanks sold to the Shah of Iran in 1976, but never received. Araghchi called for an immediate settlement of the debts, stressing that the UK government’s refusal to do so was not acceptable or justified. |
| The debt issue has been a running sore between the UK and Iran, with Iran pursuing it through the courts for years only to be met with UK resistance over whether it was legally able to pay the debt to entities that were subjected to sanctions. Boris Johnson, when he was foreign secretary, once briefed newspapers that the UK had decided to pay the Iranian debt – it then emerged he had failed to win Whitehall’s agreement. | The debt issue has been a running sore between the UK and Iran, with Iran pursuing it through the courts for years only to be met with UK resistance over whether it was legally able to pay the debt to entities that were subjected to sanctions. Boris Johnson, when he was foreign secretary, once briefed newspapers that the UK had decided to pay the Iranian debt – it then emerged he had failed to win Whitehall’s agreement. |
| Ratcliffe hunger strike making embassy work impossible, says Iran | Ratcliffe hunger strike making embassy work impossible, says Iran |
| Murrison, on the first of his round of visits, was also given a lecture on Britain’s historical interference in Iran by Kamal Kharazi, a senior foreign policy adviser to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. | Murrison, on the first of his round of visits, was also given a lecture on Britain’s historical interference in Iran by Kamal Kharazi, a senior foreign policy adviser to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. |
| Kharazi told the UK minister: “Britain has a very negative perception in the minds of people of Iran.” | Kharazi told the UK minister: “Britain has a very negative perception in the minds of people of Iran.” |
| He cited the first world war when the UK entered Iran and caused a famine; the 1901 agreement of an oil monopoly in the country given to William Knox D’Arcy; the granting of a tobacco monopoly in 1891; the British-backed coup against the former Irainian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953, and the support for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war. | He cited the first world war when the UK entered Iran and caused a famine; the 1901 agreement of an oil monopoly in the country given to William Knox D’Arcy; the granting of a tobacco monopoly in 1891; the British-backed coup against the former Irainian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953, and the support for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war. |
| Kharazi said: “I explained these reasons for this perception and said that the British government must take serious steps to offset this perception.” | Kharazi said: “I explained these reasons for this perception and said that the British government must take serious steps to offset this perception.” |
| Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe | Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe |
| Iran | Iran |
| Foreign policy | Foreign policy |
| news | news |
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