Has Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe been released?

NAZANIN Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been released from an Iranian jail and is on her way back to the UK.   The British-Iranian mother of one has been released from detention in Iran, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq announced via Twitter. The British-Iranian mother of one’s release comes six years after her initial arrest for alleged spying back in April 2016.   Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe was arrested in Iran in 2016AP   Who is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe? Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a British-Iranian mum, Thomson Reuters Foundation project manager, and former BBC employee. On April 3, 2016 she was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport and accused of plotting to topple the Iranian regime. Nazanin was prevented from returning home to the UK after visiting family with her daughter Gabriella, she was then imprisoned and spent months in solitary confinement. According to her family, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard attempted to cajole Nazanin into confessing to training and recruiting spies – a charge she denied. No data found The forty-three year old mother of one was sentenced to five years in jail in 2016. Then in April 2021 she was handed another one year sentence and travel ban after being accused of spreading propaganda. Her husband has been vocal in campaigning for her release from house arrest in Tehran. In November 2021 Richard Ratcliffe embarked on a 21 day long hunger strike outside the foreign office, protesting for his wife’s release.   Has Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe been released? According to MP Tulip Siddiq, the British-Iranian detainee received her passport on Tuesday, 15 March 2022 and was on her way back to the UK from Tehran airport on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. The Labour MP tweeted: “Nazanin is at the airport in Tehran and on her way home. I came into politics to make a difference, and right now I’m feeling like I have. More details to follow. #FreeNazanin” Just the day before, Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn hinted that Nazanin could be released soon, when she revealed via Twitter that: “Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been given her British passport back” and that “there is a British negotiating team in Tehran right now.” Why was Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe jailed? Nazanin was convicted of plotting the “soft toppling” of the Iranian government and sentenced to five years behind bars in September 2016. She was set to become eligible for early release in late 2017 or early 2018 but was taken back to court and confronted with two new charges that could see 16 years added to her sentence. The 43-year-old was accused of receiving money from organisations working to overthrow the Islamic Republic. On August 23, 2018, she was given a three-day release from prison to visit her daughter – who was staying with an Iranian family. Fears had been growing for her mental wellbeing, as reports claimed Nazanin was “suicidal” as she awaited a round of sentencing. On December 24, 2018, Nazanin’s husband Richard Ratcliffe joined London Mayor Sadiq Khan to brand her incarceration a “travesty of justice“. Then in April 2021 Nazanin was handed another year long sentence and a travel ban, which left her under house arrest in Tehran and unable to return to her husband and daughter in London.   Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, right, with her husband Richard and daughter GabriellaPA:Press Association   What happened to Nazanin’s husband and daughter? Since his wife’s arrest in 2016 for “membership of organisations working against the Iranian state” Richard Ratcliffe has fought a high-profile battle for her release. He ended his hunger strike protest, where he camped outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) last year after 21 days, “because their daughter needs two parents.” And Ratcliffe is no stranger to protesting for his wife’s release. In March 2021 he and the couple’s six-year-old daughter Gabriella protested outside the Iranian embassy in Knightsbridge and he has frequently met with government ministers to petition for his wife’s release. Seven-year-old Gabriella Ratcliffe, who was visiting family in Iran with her mother when she was arrested, moved back to London two years ago to be with her dad. Gabriella lived with her grandparents in Iran following her mother’s incarceration, she then flew home to the UK at the age of five to start school and be with her dad.   MOST READ IN NEWS CHAOS RULES Live Ukraine war updates as Putin accused of making 3 MAJOR invasion errors RED ALERT Russia BANS Joe Biden and demands Alaska as state TV calls for nuke strikes on US BLITZED TO PIECES Dramatic moment Russian tank blown up as Ukrainians lay waste to invaders bent bust Ex-Prem star Marcus Bent is penniless and banned from road after £20k-a-wk career 'BOMB' SCARE Urgent evacuation at shopping centre after reports of bomb threat BRINK OF ARMAGEDDON Nuke war ‘a few steps away’ as West faces down Russia, warns RAF chief