Head of Tehran Judiciary Confirms Five-Year Prison Sentence for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

The head of Tehran’s judiciary announced on Wednesday that the Tehran Province Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-British citizen, to five years in prison.

Gholamhossein Esmaili, head of Tehran Province’s judiciary, said on Wednesday, the sixth of Ordibehesht, to the Tasnim News Agency that Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe had filed an appeal against her five-year prison sentence, and the appeals court reviewed her request.

According to the head of Tehran Province’s judiciary, the appeals court “after conducting the necessary proceedings, deemed the appeal inadmissible because it believed the original court’s verdict was substantiated and well-reasoned.”

Earlier, Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family had also announced the rejection of their appeal.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who had traveled to Iran with her young child for Nowruz holidays, was detained on the 15th of Farvardin 1395 by the IRGC Intelligence Organization at Tehran’s “Imam Khomeini” airport while leaving Iran.

Islamic Republic media outlets reported that the IRGC accused her of “soft overthrow.”

This Iranian-British citizen worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Reuters news agency.

The IRGC’s Thaarallah Kerman unit identified Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe in June 1395 as “one of the main network leaders affiliated with foreigners” who “had carried out various missions in line with achieving the sinister objectives of the regime’s enemies.”

This IRGC unit claimed that the Iranian-British citizen “through membership in foreign companies and institutions participated in the design and implementation of media and cyber projects aimed at the soft overthrow of the Islamic Republic’s sacred system. The aforementioned individual was one of the main network leaders of hostile institutions that, under the guidance and support of foreign governments’ media and intelligence services, carried out criminal activities over the past years.”

However, both Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family and she herself insist on her innocence.

This Iranian-British citizen previously stated in a letter that “the injustice inherent in these moments cannot be described by any words.”

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly detained Iranian citizens holding nationalities of other countries, particularly American and European.

Source: Radio Farda