Nazanin Zaghari's first press conference in the UK: Justice means nothing in Iran; they released me in exchange for money
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe attended a press conference in London on Monday, April 1, 2022.
Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was imprisoned in Iran for more than five years, was released from Iran on Thursday along with Anousheh Ashouri, another Iranian-British prisoner, and returned to the UK.
Tulip Siddiq, the MP for Nazanin Zaghari's home area, expressed her joy at the release of Ms. Zaghari at the beginning of the press conference held in one of the halls of the British Parliament and said that she wants an investigation into what happened to Nazanin and the reason for the delay in her release.
After Mrs. Seddiq, Nazanin's husband Richard Ratcliffe expressed his happiness over his wife's release, thanking her and the media for covering the news about Nazanin.
Ms Zaghari then thanked all those who had helped her return to the UK, including her lawyer in Iran, as well as her husband and daughter.
According to him, the meaning of freedom will only be complete when all dual-nationality prisoners in Iran, including Morad Tahbaz, can join their families.
He added that justice has no meaning in Iran and that he should not have been imprisoned in Iran for six years.
Referring to the difficult times she had lived in Iran, Ms. Zaghari said that her path back to Britain had also been very difficult.
In another part of her speech, Nazanin Zaghari said that there are numerous other prisoners in Iran who have been in prison for longer than her, and no one knows their names.
Ms. Zaghari added that the fate of dual-nationality prisoners should not be tied to a political agreement.
Roxanne Tahbaz, the daughter of Murad Tahbaz, also called on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to work for her father's release and return to Britain.
Ms. Tahbaz said she was unaware of the status of negotiations regarding her father, adding that she had been told that Mr. Tahbaz would be on indefinite leave and that her mother's travel ban would also be lifted.
Nazanin Zaghari is a 43-year-old British-Iranian citizen who was arrested while leaving Iran in 2016 and later sentenced to five years in prison on security charges. Ms. Zaghari was temporarily released from prison in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, but a year later the court sentenced her to another sentence.
He, along with Anousheh Ashouri, another Iranian-British prisoner who had been imprisoned in Iran for years, left Iran on Wednesday, March 16, following a British delegation's visit to Tehran the day before, and entered British soil in the early hours of Thursday, March 17.
Source: Voice of America
