Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has lost her latest appeal in Iran, meaning she could be sent back to prison “at any time”, her MP has said.
Labour MP Tulip Siddiq said Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s sentence of one year plus a one-year travel ban has been “upheld with no court hearing”.
The Hampstead and Kilburn MP has urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Government to intervene in the case.
Ms Siddiq said: “This is yet another piece of devastating news for my constituent, her family and the millions around the world who care about her. For Nazanin to face a return to prison after the ordeal she’s been through is nothing short of a catastrophe.
“It seems that every time we dare to hope that Nazanin might soon be free, there is another dreadful setback that puts freedom out of sight. Whatever the Prime Minister has been doing to free Nazanin is clearly not working.
“It’s time for the UK Government to pay the debt we owe to Iran, stand up to their despicable hostage taking and finally get Nazanin home.”
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual national, has been in custody in the country since 2016 after being accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
She was taking her daughter Gabriella to see her family when she was arrested and was sentenced to five years in prison shortly afterwards, spending four years in Evin Prison.
She spent the final year of her sentence under house arrest in Tehran, but after her release this year she was then convicted of “spreading propaganda against the regime”.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family have reportedly been told by Iranian authorities that she is being detained because of the UK’s failure to pay an outstanding £400 million debt to Iran.
She is one of several people with British or dual-British nationality detained in Iran.
Her husband Richard Ratcliffe, Ms Siddiq and Amnesty International have been campaigning for her release for several years.
Ms Siddiq MP
This is yet another piece of devastating news for my constituent
Amnesty International UK chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said: “This is terrible news and is just more torment on top of five-and-a-half years of suffering for Nazanin and her family.
“Nazanin was subjected to a deeply unfair original trial, was rushed through a farcical second court process and is now confronted by more time behind bars – it’s absolutely excruciating to see this happening.
“We’ve said repeatedly that Boris Johnson, (Foreign Secretary) Liz Truss and others in Government need to genuinely step up on Nazanin’s case and other cases where British nationals are being persecuted in Iran.
“We want to see action urgently, and this must include the Government setting out a clear strategy for securing the release of all British nationals unlawfully held in Iran.”
Last month, Ms Truss met with her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian at the United Nations General Assembly, where she “pressed” him on the issue and vowed to “continue to press” him until Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe returns home.
The Foreign Secretary has described the loss of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s appeal as an “appalling continuation of the cruel ordeal she is going through”.
Richard Ratcliffe
One of the challenges I find with this Government is that it doesn’t deal with problems until they become crises
She said in a statement: “Iran’s decision to proceed with these baseless charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is an appalling continuation of the cruel ordeal she is going through.
“Instead of threatening to return Nazanin to prison, Iran must release her permanently so she can return home.
“We are doing all we can to help Nazanin get home to her young daughter and family, and I will continue to press Iran on this point.”
Richard Ratcliffe has criticised the Government’s handling of his wife’s case, stating that it “does not deal with problems until they become crises”.
Mr Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, said he held a strategy meeting with the Foreign Office on Friday as he was concerned something would happen to his wife’s appeal during the autumn.
He added he was keen for the Government to take quicker action over trying to get Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe home as he was concerned about what the outcome would be for her appeal.
He said: “The longer we wait, the more chance of bad news. I didn’t expect the next day to get bad news, but we did.”
Responding to the rejection of the appeal, he said: “That’s the Iranians signalling that they’re not prepared to wait forever and they will do what they need to do.
“Is this going to be a wake-up call for the Government? Maybe, maybe not. One of the challenges I find with this Government is that it doesn’t deal with problems until they become crises. This is Iran threatening a crisis. One hopes that the Government takes it seriously.”
