Ratcliffe: Nazanin Zaghari has become a bargaining chip regarding Britain's debt to Iran

Nazanin Zaghari, an Iranian-British citizen, was detained at the airport two years ago at the end of a Nowruz trip to Iran. She was an employee of the Thomson Reuters Foundation and was sentenced to five years in prison on security charges. For months, her husband has stated that Nazanin has become a bargaining chip for Tehran with London regarding Britain's debt to Iran, which relates to a military equipment purchase prior to the 1979 revolution. On the second anniversary of Zaghari's detention, Radio Farda interviewed her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, asking him about the significance of this anniversary. Ratcliffe stated, "Today, Nazanin begins her third year of imprisonment in Evin. Did you think this would take so long?" He replied, "I never thought it would take this long. When this story began, I was shocked that this could happen, and then someone said it might take three months, and at worst, six months. I thought, 'Oh God, does that mean it will last until Christmas?' But I never thought it would reach a year and then two years. Even last Christmas, when the Foreign Secretary went to Tehran and all the noise around this case arose, I was sure the end of this story was very close, but now that Nowruz and the second anniversary have come, it is very hard. A British MP from your area says that the Foreign Office has given you and your family false hope regarding Nazanin's release. What are your feelings about the government's actions in this regard?" Ratcliffe responded, "I am not saying they gave false hope; they have always been very calm regarding the issues raised. The Foreign Secretary has said he will use all means in this regard, but it is clear that there are still obstacles in the way. As a result, there is dissatisfaction that she is still in prison, and my criticism of the government has been that they did not pursue this story with full force against Iranian officials and did not support Nazanin as they should have. One issue is that from the beginning, they emphasized that Nazanin is a dual national and this is a consular case. The reason for this is that under British law, the government has no obligation in consular cases; it can help if it can, but it is not obliged. While in this case, what is clear is that Nazanin is not imprisoned for something she has done herself, but rather for something the British government has not done. I mean the unpaid debt of Britain to Iran, and there is a disagreement between the two governments regarding the interest on this debt. However, both the British and Iranian governments deny this and say this case is not related to this debt. The Foreign Office of both countries has denied it. The message we receive from the judiciary is from the prosecutor's office and the judge responsible for the case, which is that it is certain that Nazanin's release is related to the payment of this debt. If you look at an interview I had about 18 months ago with Radio Farda, we received a message from Nazanin's interrogators, who are linked to the IRGC, saying, 'Please pressure the British government to pay this debt for her to be released.' As a result, in official statements, they say there is no relationship, and then behind the scenes, we receive a different message from Iranian officials. With your wife's continued imprisonment, and the fact that you have not seen her and your child for more than two years, are you thinking of going to Iran?" Ratcliffe replied, "Yes, I have definitely thought about this and I have submitted a visa application, which is at the Iranian embassy. Well, I thought she would be released by Nowruz and come to Britain, so I think I will wait a few more weeks to see how things progress. Right now, it is a tense time between Iran and the West, but if I cannot bring her home, it is certain that I want to go to Iran and see them. So I will wait a few more weeks to pressure for the visa. You have held numerous and innovative campaigns over the past two years to raise awareness about the situation of your wife and child in Iran. I wanted to ask you a little about your recent initiative, a campaign that includes comedy and humor. Ratcliffe said, "Yes, after Christmas, we thought about what we would do when the anniversary arrives. We thought she would be home, and thus we were thinking of some kind of celebration. That is why we spoke with Shappi Khorsandi, a British-Iranian comedian, to perhaps arrange a comedy program. Then we thought if Nazanin is not home by then, we should do something to make her happy. Therefore, we asked our supporters to send us jokes and humor, and we collected these and turned them into a calendar to send to prisoners in Iran, because this is a long marathon, and maintaining morale is a hard task. You rely on the outside world to continue their support and care about your situation. In this process, laughter is important, and we are doing just that, and it has been good to be able to tell Nazanin about this and explain it to her. When was the last time you spoke to her? How is her situation in prison?" Ratcliffe replied, "I spoke to Nazanin on Easter Sunday, and my family also spoke with her, and she was happy to talk to them. Nowruz was very hard for her. Many prisoners were granted leave or released, and there was also a prisoner exchange between Iran and Turkmenistan, and her Turkmen cellmates were released. She hoped that a change would occur and had heard from the head of Evin prison that he had submitted her request for release months ago. As a result, Nowruz was very hard; Gabriella was not with her and was with her grandparents, and in the photos, they looked very sad and could not be together for this family event, almost like my feeling at Christmas, which was very hard for me. Overall, her mental state is not very good, and I am always worried about her.