Amnesty International calls on the British government to investigate the "hostage taking" of Nazanin Zaghari

Amnesty International has called on the British government to investigate Iranian officials suspected of committing the "crime of hostage-taking" of British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, June 1, based on an analytical report, the human rights organization also called on the British government to request the "extradition" of these Iranian officials for their trial in fair courts if "sufficient evidence exists."

Citing the arrest of Nazanin Zaghari and her release in Esfand 1400 "in exchange for the payment of 393.8 million pounds by the UK," Amnesty International declared that "the Iranian authorities have committed the crime of hostage-taking by arresting Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe" in connection with their long-standing dispute with the UK over debt, and "this crime must not go unpunished."

Diana Al-Tahawi, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, also said in this regard: "The Iranian authorities deliberately and shamelessly deprived Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe of her freedom and, using trumped-up security charges and a sham judicial process, pressured the British government to repay its debts to Iran."

In recent days, Nazanin Zaghari announced in an interview that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials forced her to sign a "fabricated confession" of "espionage" at the airport before her release and during her departure from Iran.

He signed these confessions in the presence of a representative of the British government and said that if he had not signed them, he would not have been able to board the plane.

The Islamic Republic of Iran arrested Nazanin Zaghari at Tehran airport in April 2016 on charges of “espionage.” Ms. Zaghari was sentenced to prison in court on charges of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government. However, in 2011, when Nazanin Zaghari’s five-year sentence had expired, the Iranian judiciary sentenced her to another year in prison on a new charge.

Zaghari, along with another dual-national prisoner, Anousheh Ashouri, was released last March after Britain repaid an old debt to Iran, and both returned to British soil.

The debt in question is related to a contract that Iran signed with Britain before the revolution to purchase Chieftain tanks, but was not implemented after the revolution.

Human rights defenders say the Islamic Republic is using the detention of foreign nationals and dual nationals to "extort" Western countries.

Source: Voice of America