Araghchi Responds to Hunger Strike of Nazanin Zaghari’s Husband Outside Iran’s Embassy in London
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister says the hunger strike by Nazanin Zaghari’s husband outside Iran’s embassy in London, which is in protest of the continued detention of Ms. Zaghari and in solidarity with this dual-national prisoner’s hunger strike, will have no effect on her sentence.
Abbas Araghchi, who met on Sunday with Andrew Murrison, Britain’s Deputy Foreign Secretary for Middle East Affairs, stated that Iran’s judiciary will “never be influenced” by what Araghchi described as “blackmail.”
According to reports from Iranian news agencies, Abbas Araghchi added that “those accused of espionage crimes must serve their sentences.”
At the same time, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister also raised the issue of “Britain’s debt to the Iranian people,” saying that “Britain’s refusal to pay this debt under any pretext is unacceptable.”
The story of London’s debt to Tehran dates back four decades and relates to payment of 600 million pounds for the purchase of Chieftain tanks. Iran’s last shah had paid for the tanks in advance, but by the 1979 revolution, only a small number of tanks and equipment had been delivered.
The connection between paying this money and freeing Ms. Zaghari gained momentum after a report published in the Telegraph newspaper suggested that the British government had expressed willingness to pay 400 million pounds toward this debt in exchange for releasing Ms. Zaghari.
However, both Iran’s Foreign Ministry and Britain have rejected this report.
Nazanin Zaghari, an employee of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in April 2016 when she was traveling to Iran with her young daughter and was accused of “attempting to overthrow” Iran’s government and “espionage” — accusations that Zaghari, her lawyer, her husband Richard Ratcliffe, and the British government have emphatically denied.
On June 15, Richard Ratcliffe said his wife told the family in a phone call that she had begun another hunger strike in protest of her “unjust detention.”
Mr. Ratcliffe also began a hunger strike in solidarity with his wife by standing outside Iran’s embassy in London; an action that received media coverage and resulted in the presence of some people and also members of parliament outside Iran’s embassy.
IRNA, the Islamic Republic’s state news agency, described the presence of British Parliament members at Mr. Ratcliffe’s hunger strike site as a “show” and said they “have no information about the details of the case.”
Andrew Murrison, Britain’s Deputy Foreign Secretary for Middle East Affairs, who traveled to Tehran on June 23, said that on behalf of his government he has insisted on “the immediate and unconditional release” of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Ms. Zaghari is an Iranian-British dual citizen.
Source: Radio Farda
