This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/oct/07/nazanin-zaghari-ratcliffe-pressure-grows-on-uk-after-australians-release

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: pressure grows on UK after Australians' release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: court ruling on £400m tank debt could aid release
(about 1 hour later)
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has questioned why she remains incarcerated in Iran for more than three years after Australia secured the release of two citizens from the country, her husband has disclosed. A court hearing in London over a £400m debt owed by the UK government to Iran could help decide the fate of the Iranian-British dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, imprisoned in Evin jail in Tehran for the last four years.
Mr Justice Phillips is being asked in the high court to settle the precise amount the UK should pay to the Iranians for a broken arms contract stretching back 40 years.
The court is due to decide the full amount, including any interest, that the UK must pay the Iranians for a £400m-plus debt the UK acknowledges it owes for the UK’s non-delivery of Chieftain tanks Tehran ordered from the UK before the fall of the Shah in 1979.
A wholly owned subsidiary of the UK’s Ministry of Defence, International Military Services, has disputed the amount of interest owed, and there have been issues about the entity to which the UK can send the money without breaching international sanctions against Iran.
Neither the Iranians nor the British acknowledge there is a link between Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s fate and the non-payment of the outstanding debt. But in practice, figures such as Jeremy Hunt, the former foreign secretary, and Mohammad Javid Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, have in different ways said the Iranians do see a link between the two cases.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe is still waiting to hear the outcome of her appeal to an Iranian health commission that she be released from jail on grounds of mental ill-health. She denies all espionage charges, but her supporters have pleaded with Iran to give her clemency given her mental state.
Meanwhile, Zaghari-Ratcliffe has questioned why she remains incarcerated in Iran after Australia secured the release of two citizens from the country, her husband has disclosed.
Jolie King, a British-Australian building designer, and her boyfriend, Mark Firkin, a construction manager, were allowed to return home last week, three months after being arrested.Jolie King, a British-Australian building designer, and her boyfriend, Mark Firkin, a construction manager, were allowed to return home last week, three months after being arrested.
The couple, who had been blogging on their travels across Asia, were arrested on spying charges after flying a drone near a military base, Iranian officials said. The couple, who had been blogging on their travels across Asia, were arrested on spying charges after flying a drone near a military base, Iranian officials said. Zaghari-Ratcliffe befriended King after the two were housed in the same area of Tehran’s Evin prison.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual British-Iranian national, who was arrested in Iran in 2016 and given a five-year sentence for allegedly plotting against the Iranian government, befriended King after the two were housed in the same area of Tehran’s Evin prison.
King and Firkin’s release, which came before the pair faced a court hearing, was secured as Australia returned the scientist Reza Dehbashi to Iran having been detained for 13 months over the purchase of a defence system from the US.King and Firkin’s release, which came before the pair faced a court hearing, was secured as Australia returned the scientist Reza Dehbashi to Iran having been detained for 13 months over the purchase of a defence system from the US.
While pleased to hear of the couple’s return to Australia, Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 41, has questioned why British officials have not yet secured her release, according to her husband Richard Ratcliffe. While pleased to hear of the couple’s return to Australia, Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 41, has questioned why British officials have not yet secured her release, according to her husband, Richard Ratcliffe.
“I told Nazanin and she was very pleased that Jolie was released,” he told the Times. “Obviously for Nazanin it is also bittersweet. While there is no queue for cases like this, she did ask how come the Australians can solve their hostage cases in a couple of months while the UK has taken over three and a half years. I had no answer.”“I told Nazanin and she was very pleased that Jolie was released,” he told the Times. “Obviously for Nazanin it is also bittersweet. While there is no queue for cases like this, she did ask how come the Australians can solve their hostage cases in a couple of months while the UK has taken over three and a half years. I had no answer.”
Marise Payne, the Australian foreign affairs minister, said the release of King and Firkin had come after “very sensitive” negotiations between the two countries’ governments.Marise Payne, the Australian foreign affairs minister, said the release of King and Firkin had come after “very sensitive” negotiations between the two countries’ governments.
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said last month that Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s fate was connected to a historic debt Britain owed Iran over a decades-old weapons deal. Iran’s foreign minister said last month that Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s fate was connected to a historic debt Britain owed Iran over a decades-old weapons deal.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her husband decided last week their five-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, would be returned to the UK, having been in Tehran since her mother’s arrest in 2016. In a letter, she said the separation from her child would leave her a “desolate mother ready to burn like a desert dune”. Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her husband decided last week their five-year-old daughter, Gabriella, would be returned to the UK, having been in Tehran since her mother’s arrest in 2016. In a letter, she said the separation from her child would leave her a “desolate mother ready to burn like a desert dune”.
Meanwhile, another British-Australian woman, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, remained in Evin prison, where she has been for almost a year. Moore-Gilbert, a Cambridge-educated, Melbourne-based academic specialising in Islamic and Middle East studies, has reportedly been handed a 10-year sentence, also on a charge of espionage.Meanwhile, another British-Australian woman, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, remained in Evin prison, where she has been for almost a year. Moore-Gilbert, a Cambridge-educated, Melbourne-based academic specialising in Islamic and Middle East studies, has reportedly been handed a 10-year sentence, also on a charge of espionage.
Australian officials are still working to secure her release.Australian officials are still working to secure her release.
Nazanin Zaghari-RatcliffeNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
IranIran
newsnews
Share on FacebookShare on Facebook
Share on TwitterShare on Twitter
Share via EmailShare via Email
Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn
Share on PinterestShare on Pinterest
Share on WhatsAppShare on WhatsApp
Share on MessengerShare on Messenger
Reuse this contentReuse this content