Iran's Judiciary Calls New Charges Against Nazanin Zaghari 'Security-related'

Continuing the contradictory statements regarding the 'new charges' against Nazanin Zaghari, an Iranian-British citizen imprisoned in Tehran, a judicial official of the Islamic Republic announced on Saturday, June 5, that Zaghari's new charge is 'security-related' and that 'no hearing date has been set yet.' Moussa Ghazanfari Abadi, head of the Revolutionary Court, told the Tasnim news agency that Zaghari's charge 'is in a new case that has been opened against her and her court session will be held after a lawyer is appointed.' According to Tasnim, this judicial official did not provide details about the nature of Zaghari's new charge. Last week, Richard Ratcliffe, Zaghari's husband, announced that she was taken to court on May 29, where Judge Abolqasem Salavati informed her of a new charge of 'propaganda against the regime.' However, the Mizan news agency, affiliated with the judiciary, reported after Ratcliffe's statements that Zaghari was transferred to court but since she stated that 'she needs a lawyer,' the court will issue a postponement until her lawyer's presence. Following that, Gholamhossein Esmaeili, the head of the Tehran judiciary, told the Mehr news agency that the new court session for this Iranian-British citizen will be held in the coming weeks. Nazanin Zaghari, who worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in April 2016 while attempting to leave Iran and was sentenced to five years in prison on charges including 'participation in activities related to soft overthrow.' Zaghari has spent the past two years in prison, and her three-year-old daughter has been kept with Zaghari's family during this time without being allowed to join her father in London. Some political activists and human rights organizations have repeatedly accused Iran of using the detention and harassment of dual citizens as hostages to fulfill its demands from other countries. Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, referred to imprisoned dual citizens in Iran last week while presenting new strategies of the U.S. government towards the Islamic Republic and called for their release. It is estimated that in the past few years, around thirty dual citizens have faced restrictions or have been arrested and imprisoned in Iran. Throughout the two years since Nazanin Zaghari's arrest and conviction in Iran, Britain has repeatedly called for her release, and Boris Johnson, the country's Foreign Secretary, also requested her release on humanitarian grounds during his visit to Tehran a few months ago.