Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Temporary freedom for jailed charity worker extended again

Dual national has been told that no final decision has been made on her clemency

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

The temporary release of jailed charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been extended while Iranian authorities mull her request for clemency, her supporters said on Wednesday.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual-national, was released from Evin jail in Tehran on March 17 as part of measures to help Iran tackle the Covid-19 outbreak.

She has been in prison for more than four years after being accused of seeking to undermine the regime.

Her family say the charges have been fabricated and she is being used by the regime as a pawn in a wider diplomatic battle with the UK.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe spoke with the prosecutor’s office on Wednesday, the day she was due to return to prison after three previous extensions under the furlough scheme.

“Her furlough from prison has again been extended - until a decision has been made on her clemency,” said her campaign group on Twitter. “She was told no decision has been made on clemency.”

Her father has been asked to attend the prosecutor’s office on Saturday. Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe is not allowed to move more than 300 metres from her Iranian parents’ home under the conditions of her release.

Some 100,000 prisoners were given temporary freedom from Iran’s crowded jails and many have since returned. Another 10,000 have been promised clemency.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe is one of 125 identified security prisoners who is eligible for permanent release under the terms of the programme ordered by supreme leader Ali Khamenei in March, according to Iran Prison Atlas, a database of prisoners compiled by a US-based group.

The charity worker was detained in April 2016 as she prepared to return to Britain after visiting her parents with her young daughter. She was jailed for five years.

News of the extension came in the week that the UK’s Foreign Office rejected an appeal for London’s ambassador to Iran to visit her while under house arrest in Tehran. The Foreign Office was reportedly concerned that a visit by the ambassador could risk angering Iran.

The family's MP, Tulip Siddiq, said that the uncertainty over her release was causing "unimaginable stress" and urged the UK government to step up efforts to make the furlough permanent.