LONDON: British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces a new court appearance next week in Tehran and will be hauled back to jail, her husband said Wednesday, expressing fear her case could drag on “for years.”
Iran last month abruptly postponed a new trial of Zaghari-Ratcliffe but she has now been told to report to a court on Monday, Richard Ratcliffe said in a statement.
“She was told to pack a bag for prison and bring it with her when the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) pick her up, since that is where she will be going after court,” he said.
Ratcliffe linked the development to the postponement of a hearing that was due to take place on Tuesday in London, to address Iran’s longstanding demand for the repayment by Britain of hundreds of millions from an old military order.
After speaking with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Tuesday, he said in the statement that the UK government’s diplomatic approach “seems disastrous.”
“It is imperative that the UK protects Nazanin. I told the foreign secretary that I felt the UK is dancing to Iran’s tune, and exposing Nazanin to abuse because of it,” Ratcliffe said.
“As Nazanin’s husband, I do think that if she’s not home for Christmas, there’s every chance this could run for years,” he added, accusing Iran of “hostage diplomacy.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who will turn 42 on Boxing Day, has been on temporary release from Tehran’s Evin prison and under house arrest since earlier this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
She has spent more than four years in jail or under house arrest since being arrested in the Iranian capital in April 2016 while visiting relatives with her young daughter.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation — the media organization’s philanthropic arm — denied charges of sedition but was convicted and jailed for five years.
There was no immediate response from the UK government Wednesday. Last month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said the government was raising its concerns with Iran “at the highest levels.”
UK-Iranian ‘hostage’ Zaghari-Ratcliffe due back in Tehran jail
https://arab.news/8x5ff
UK-Iranian ‘hostage’ Zaghari-Ratcliffe due back in Tehran jail
- Iran last month abruptly postponed a new trial of Zaghari-Ratcliffe but she has now been told to report to a court, her husband said
- He said in a statement that the UK government’s diplomatic approach “seems disastrous”
Take back and prosecute your jailed Daesh militants, Iraq tells Europe
RAQQA: Baghdad on Friday urged European states to repatriate and prosecute their citizens who fought for Daesh, and who are now being moved to Iraq from detention camps in Syria.
Europeans were among 150 Daesh prisoners transferred so far by the US military from Kurdish custody in Syria. They were among an estimated 7,000 militants due to be moved across the border to Iraq as the Kurdish-led force that has held them for years relinquishes swaths of territory to the advancing Syrian army.
In a telephone call on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said European countries should take back and prosecute their nationals.
An Iraqi security official said the 150 so far transferred to Iraq were “all leaders of the Daesh group, and some of the most notorious criminals.” They included “Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Iraqis,” he said.
Another Iraqi security source said the group comprised “85 Iraqis and 65 others of various nationalities, including Europeans, Sudanese, Somalis, and people from the Caucasus region.”
They all took part in Daesh operations in Iraq, he said, and were now being held at a prison in Baghdad.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that “non-Iraqi terrorists will be in Iraq temporarily.”
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces jailed thousands of militant fighters and detained tens of thousands of their relatives in camps as it pushed out Daesh in 2019 after five years of fighting.
