Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: PM urged to act on 2,000th day of detention
Boris Johnson has been urged to “rethink” his approach to
Iran in order to help secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
Thursday marks 2,000 days since Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was
detained, and her MP Tulip Siddiq, along with more than 175 other parliamentarians,
accused the Government of complacency in its response to Tehran.
The MPs and peers urged the Prime Minister to call the
detention of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other dual nationals hostage-taking, and
also resolve a long-standing legal row with Iran over a £400 million debt
linked to a 1970s arms deal.
Richard Ratcliffe, Nazanin’s husband, said: “After 2,000
days of disappointments and let-downs, I do sometimes wonder what will get the
Government to bring Nazanin and the others home?
“What will end the years of drift, or get the Prime Minister
to deliver on his word?”
He said the signatories to the letter had called for the
Government to “get tough with Iran’s hostage-taking, and grow a backbone in how
it protects British citizens held overseas”.
The increased pressure on the Government comes as Foreign
Secretary Liz Truss met her Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, at
the United Nations on Wednesday.
Following the meeting a Foreign, Commonwealth and
Development spokesperson said: “The Foreign Secretary held her first meeting
with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to discuss bilateral,
nuclear and regional issues. She called for the release and return home of
British dual national detainees.
“She urged Iran to return rapidly to the JCPOA (Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action) negotiations in Vienna with a view to all sides
coming back into compliance and reducing tensions over Iran’s nuclear
programme.”
In a letter to the Prime Minister, to be delivered to No 10
on Thursday, the MPs and peers said: “The refusal to acknowledge this as
hostage-taking, or to impose any cost on Iran for the hostage-taking of British
citizens, enables the practice to continue.”
The parliamentarians accused the Government of failing to
resolve the debt dispute with Tehran, arguing “it is shameful that the sins of
the British Government should be allowed to sit for so long on the shoulders of
ordinary, innocent citizens and their families”.
The letter will be delivered by Mr Ratcliffe and his
daughter Gabriella, along with their MP, Labour’s Tulip Siddiq.
Fellow Labour MP Janet Daby and Elika Ashoori, daughter of
fellow detainee Anoosheh Ashoori, will also be in Downing Street.
Ms Siddiq said: “The time for excuses is over. This
cross-party letter sends a direct message to the Prime Minister that a new
approach is needed if we are going to free Nazanin and end this barbaric
hostage-taking.”
Mr Ratcliffe will stand on a giant snakes and ladders board
in Westminster on Thursday to symbolise the feeling of being “caught in a game
between two governments”, Amnesty International, which is supporting his
campaign, said.
Amnesty International’s UK chief executive, Sacha Deshmukh,
said: “People’s lives shouldn’t be treated like a game by governments – it’s
excruciating to see how Nazanin and her family are being made to suffer like
this.
“We’re hoping Liz Truss will make the job of securing
Nazanin’s release a major priority as Foreign Secretary.”
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe is one of several people with British
or dual-British nationality detained in Iran.
She was held in Tehran in 2016 on national security charges
while taking her daughter Gabriella to see her family.
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