Nazanin Zaghari requests conditional release from Tehran prosecutor's office
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's defense lawyer announced that his client has requested conditional release from the Tehran Prosecutor's Office.
Mahmoud Behzadi, the lawyer for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been sentenced to five years in prison in Iran, told IRNA that his client has served more than half of her five-year sentence and is subject to conditional release regulations.
Mr. Behzadi said that they are currently waiting for a response from the Tehran prosecutor to approve Nazanin Zaghari's request for conditional release.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratkiv was arrested at the airport in April 2016 as she attempted to leave Iran. She was sentenced to five years in prison for participating in a “soft coup.”
The Revolutionary Guards had accused her of crimes against national security and journalism training. However, Ms. Zaghari denied the charges, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation officially announced that she was a simple employee in the foundation's administrative department.
The dual-national prisoner was transferred to the Evin Prison Clinic in Iran in September after suffering a nervous breakdown while returning from leave. Nazanin Zaghari's critical condition prompted a statement from Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty International, who said, "What the Islamic Republic authorities are doing to Nazanin Zaghari is extremely cruel."
Now, Nazanin Zaghari's defense lawyer has said about the latest status of her illness that a request has been made to transfer Zaghari to the hospital so that medical care can be provided in the hospital, and we are now waiting for the prison to agree to the request to transfer Zaghari to the hospital.
In June, the Iranian judiciary announced the opening of another security case against Nazanin Zaghari; a case that Ms. Zaghari's lawyer told IRNA that he was not representing her, but that he was aware that a court session had been held and that the case had the status of a closed case; meaning that the same charges had already been investigated and the client had been sentenced.
In June, Iranian media quoted Iranian judicial officials as saying that the second part of Ms. Zaghari's case was still open.
Western analysts say the Islamic Republic uses dual nationals as hostages to extract money and privileges from Western governments.
In his latest report, published about 9 months ago, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran expressed concern about the imprisonment of dual nationals in Iran, saying that these arrests are a cause for deep concern and a clear example of the failure to follow legal procedures in Iran.
Source: Voice of America
