Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family hopeful for clemency bid

Detained charity worker’s lawyer is due to speak with prosecutors on Wednesday

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been out of Tehran's Evin prison since March. Reuters

The husband of detained charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe said the family was on the cusp of potentially good news as they await a decision on her bid for clemency in Iran.

Richard Ratcliffe said that his wife’s lawyer was due to appear before prosecutors on Wednesday to receive a decision on whether she will be permanently freed from Evin jail where she has been held since April 2016.

She was temporarily released in March this year as part of efforts by Iranian authorities to tackle the coronavirus outbreak but has remained with her parents in Iran. Her date to return to prison has been repeatedly extended amid continuing concerns about the regime’s handling of the pandemic.

Mr Ratcliffe said that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, announced at the weekend that more than 3,000 people would be pardoned to mark Eid.

"Legally she should be on the list because she meets the criteria, so we are hopeful,” he told UK broadcaster ITV. “While at the same time … it’s been more than four years when we’ve been pushing and asking and we’ve had a number of false dawns.

“So yes, probably guarded, but hopefully we are a good news story soon.”

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested as she prepared to leave the country with her young daughter after visiting her parents. She was jailed for five years and accused of plotting against the Iranian government, which she denies.

Her supporters say she is being held hostage by Iran as a pawn in a broader diplomatic battle between the two governments. Mr Ratcliffe has highlighted an ongoing legal dispute over a £380 million debt owed by the UK government to Iran over an aborted arms deal with the former Shah from the 1970s.

"Thinking of this amazing, brave family and praying for good news tomorrow," wrote former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt in a tweet.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe is one of a number of foreign dual nationals held by Iran who have been used as prisoner swaps with Iranians held around the world.

The UK Foreign Office declined to comment last week on reports that another British-Iranian dual national was sentenced to 10 years for spying.