Nazanin Zaghari's husband reacts to Aras Amiri's sentence: Iran has imprisoned another woman like my wife

In an article in the Guardian newspaper published on Thursday, May 16, Richard Ratcliffe, husband of Nazanin Zaghari, referred to the news of Aras Amiri's sentencing to 10 years in prison in Iran and the similarities between his case and his wife's.

Mr Ratcliffe wrote: “The news of Aras Amiri’s conviction reminded me of a similar situation with Nazanin in 2016. Both Nazanin Zaghari and Aras Amiri were arrested while on holiday in Iran to visit their families. Both were tried for their links to the UK and both were charged with espionage.

Richard Ratcliffe said: "Today, both of them are in the same cell in Evin Prison."

Nazanin Zaghari's husband added: "Aras Amiri's sentence was announced on television. Revolutionary courts never base their sentences on justice. They advertise imprisonment in the media like this."

British Prime Minister Theresa May said she was "deeply concerned" by the Islamic Republic's jailing of a member of the British Council.

According to Reuters, the British Prime Minister said he was "shocked" to hear the news, saying the convicted person "worked for a legal firm whose aim was to improve relations between the two countries."

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, in response to the 10-year prison sentence, described the move as "deeply worrying."

Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said on Monday, May 13, that the person who was "responsible for the Iran desk at the British Council," known as the "British Council," has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

A few hours after this news was published, the Guardian website wrote that this person was "Aras Amiri," a 33-year-old student who was arrested by the Islamic Republic last year.

Aras Amiri had traveled to Iran many times before, but the last time he went to Iran to visit his sick grandmother, he was arrested by Ministry of Intelligence agents five days after his arrival in March 2017.

Shortly after, this Iranian student at Kingston University in the UK, who had been transferred to Evin Prison after being arrested, was released from prison in 2018 after posting a bail of 500 million Tomans.

But then he was arrested again in September 2018, and no news has been released about him so far.

Source: Voice of America