The aid worker has been detained in Iran since 2016
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has had her British passport returned, her MP Tulip Siddiq has said, renewing hopes that the charity worker may finally be able to return home after being arrested in Tehran in 2016.
When asked whether Zaghari-Ratcliffe could be released, her lawyer Hojjat Kermani told Reuters: “I am hopeful that we will have good news soon.”
Writing on Twitter on Tuesday, Siddiq said she understood there is a British negotiating team working in Tehran, where Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being detained.
The MP for Hampstead and Kilburn tweeted: “I am very pleased to say that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been given her British passport back”.
“She is still at her family home in Tehran.
“I also understand that there is a British negotiating team in Tehran right now.”
I am very pleased to say that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been given her British passport back.
She is still at her family home in Tehran. I also understand that there is a British negotiating team in Tehran right now.
I will keep posting updates as I get them.#FreeNazanin
— Tulip Siddiq (@TulipSiddiq) March 15, 2022
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at a Tehran airport in April 2016 when visiting family in Iran with her daughter Gabriella.
The charity worker, who was working as a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was jailed for five years on charges of plotting against the regime.
She received a further sentence last April but has spent the past year on parole at her parents’ home in Tehran.
Negotiators are arguing over a £400 million debt owed by the UK to Iran.
It’s thought Zaghari-Ratcliffe will be released alongside other dual nationals Anoosheh Ashoori and Morad Tahbaz on receipt of payment.
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