Nazanin Zaghari to be tried again next week
The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual Iranian-British citizen, says that his wife was suddenly informed on Tuesday that she must appear in court next Monday, presided over by Judge Salavati.
Richard Ratcliffe, Mrs. Zaghari's husband, said Wednesday that his wife had been told to pack her bags for prison and be ready whenever the IRGC agents came to take her away.
The request to prepare to go to prison and appear in court on Monday comes amid reports that the trial of Britain's debt to Iran may be postponed for another six months, and that the trial is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, one day after Ms. Zaghari's trial.
The Islamic Republic says the British government owes Iran about four hundred million pounds for not delivering the Chieftain model tanks, a contract for which was signed more than four decades ago between the Pahlavi regime and the then British government.
Mr. Ratcliffe had previously stated on several occasions that the Islamic Republic was using his wife as a hostage to receive this money.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also said in October last year that Britain had offered to "release 400 million pounds of Iran's confiscated assets" in exchange for the release of Ms. Zaghari, who has been imprisoned in Iran since April 2016.
According to him, the proposal was first raised by former British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond before he left office in July 2016, but the UK did not implement it.
Zarif said that in response to this offer, he was ready to "argue in court for Nazanin Zaghari's release."
Ms. Zaghari was sent on leave last March due to concerns about the spread of coronavirus in Iranian prisons and is currently under house arrest.
On Tuesday, Mr. Ratcliffe also spoke with the British Foreign Secretary and stressed the importance of consular access for Ms. Zaghari.
Ms. Zaghari's summons to a court presided over by Judge Salavati - who is known for his violent treatment and long-term imprisonment of political and civil activists - comes as Ms. Zaghari's sentence ends in March of this year and she is now set to be tried again on charges of "propaganda against the system."
Ms. Zaghari, an employee of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested by the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence service at Imam Khomeini Airport in April 2016 as she was leaving Iran and sentenced to five years in prison on charges of "attempting soft subversion," charges that she, her lawyer, and the Thompson Reuters Foundation have vehemently denied.
Following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Nazanin Zaghari was released from Evin Prison on bail on March 17, 2020. Her leave with an electronic tracker has been extended several times, and she is not allowed to go further than 300 meters from her parents' house.
Source: Radio Farda
