Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Tried Again by Iran; UK Parliamentarian: These ‘Psychological Games’ Must Stop
The first court session to hear new charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian citizen detained in Iran, was held without a representative from Britain despite repeated requests from the UK.
According to Associated Press, Richard Ratcliffe, Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, announced in a statement that Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was unable to present her defense during the brief session held on Monday, November 2. In Mr. Ratcliffe’s statement, it was noted that no date has yet been set for the next court hearing.
British newspaper The Guardian also reported that Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband told Tulip Siddiq, his local representative in the British Parliament, that they were concerned about Nazanin being sent to Evin Prison; however, the court hearing was postponed before she could present her defense.
Despite repeated requests from the British Foreign Office, no representative from the country was present in court.
Ms. Siddiq wrote in a tweet: “Psychological torture continues. [Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s] personal safety is my top priority and these psychological games must stop.”
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was granted leave in March following the outbreak of the coronavirus and is under house arrest with an electronic tag at her parents’ home. She has spent four and a half years of her five-year prison sentence.
Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family say that in the file of new charges handed to her lawyers, no new evidence is visible.
Last week, Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was informed that a second court hearing would take place and was told to bring clothes with her, as she would be returned to prison from there.
Richard Ratcliffe, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, says the use of “court proceedings as a tactic for negotiation by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps” has had a deeply negative impact on Nazanin and her family.
The British Foreign Office has called the new charges brought against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe unjustified. Dominic Raab, the country’s foreign minister, said that if Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe is returned to prison again, relations between Iran and Britain will change.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained by Revolutionary Guards in June 2016 at Tehran airport while returning to London with her young daughter and was sentenced to five years in prison.
She worked with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, which helps develop media worldwide. She has been accused of participating in “soft overthrow” of the Islamic Republic through cooperation with foreign institutions and companies.
The United States has also repeatedly condemned what it calls the arbitrary and unlawful detention of American citizens and citizens of other countries, including dual-national Iranians, by the Islamic Republic regime and has called for their immediate and unconditional release.
Source: Voice of America
