British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained almost six years ago in Iran, has been released and is allowed to return to the UK.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe [pictured, left] was arrested in 2016 after travelling to Iran to visit her family, facing accusations of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government. She has always denied the allegations.
Reports emerged earlier this week that Iranian authorities had returned Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s UK passport after almost six years of her being placed under house arrest, and that negotiations for her release were “moving forward” according to prime minister, Boris Johnson.
This morning, her local MP Tulip Siddiq of the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency in London, tweeted that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was at Tehran airport and on her way back to the UK.
Campaigners had been pressing for the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe since her arrest, including her husband Richard Ratcliffe [pictured, right], who went on hunger strike in October 2021.
UK foreign secretary Liz Truss said that it was an “absolute priority” to secure the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe, as well as other individuals of dual nationality detained abroad.
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons