Nazanin Zaghari: I Had to Sign False Confessions

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who finally managed to leave Iran after prolonged imprisonment and house arrest, is now speaking about the actions of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps before her departure from the country, which she says were extremely “humiliating.” She was forced to sign “false confessions.”

The British-Iranian citizen, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, was imprisoned in Iran for years and is now speaking, two months after her release and return to Britain, about the conditions of her freedom.

In an interview with the BBC program “Woman’s Hour,” she said that the Islamic Republic authorities forced her, before leaving the country, to sign “false confessions” and forced statements about “spying” in the presence of a British government representative.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who holds dual Iranian and British citizenship, says that a video recorded by Islamic Republic authorities was an example of “human humiliation.”

According to her assessment, the Islamic Republic authorities will release these fabricated confessions in the future.

Ms. Zaghari says that at that time, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps took her to the airport before she could say goodbye to her parents.

She added that the Islamic Republic authorities told her that the British government had paid 400 million pounds—the amount Britain had owed Iran since the 1970s—in exchange for her release.

The 43-year-old Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released in mid-March this year after six years of imprisonment and house arrest and was allowed to leave the country. Her conviction had fueled a dispute between Tehran and London for years.

She, who worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was detained during a trip to Iran in 2016.

Prison Sentence Conviction for “Spying” Charges

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was accused by Islamic Republic authorities, among others, of “spying.” Her charges stated that “by forming a foreign network, she attempted to overthrow the Islamic Republic.”

Although British authorities strongly rejected these accusations, the Revolutionary Court convicted her.

Human rights groups say the Islamic Republic takes dual citizens like Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe as hostages to achieve its goals. In this case as well, Ms. Zaghari’s supporters said that the Islamic Republic had taken this British-Iranian citizen hostage to recover Britain’s 400 million pound debt. Islamic Republic authorities deny this claim.