Iran official confirms new trial for British-Iranian woman

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, already sentenced to five years in jail, faces new 'security-related' charge

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, seen here with her husand Richard Ratcliffe, faces a fresh trial in Iran, officials said on May 26, 2018. She has already been sentenced to five years in jail for sedition. Show more

Iran will put imprisoned British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on trial for a second time to face new charges, Iranian media reported on Saturday.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran airport while leaving the country in April 2016 and sentenced to five years in jail for sedition. She denies the charge and dismissed claims that she was seeking to overthrow the government through her work with the philanthropic arm of the Thomson Reuters media group.

On Saturday the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the head of the Tehran's hard-line Revolutionary Court, Musa Ghazanfarabadi, as saying she now faces a fresh "security-related" charge.

"Ghazanfarabadi said the charge against Zaghari in the new case is security-related but did not say whether it was espionage or another charge," Tasnim said.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband said last week that his wife was told to expect a new conviction for spreading propaganda against the Iranian regime.

Richard Ratcliffe said she was taken to the Revolutionary Court on May 19 and shown a 200-page dossier detailing the case against her. The file included photos and press coverage of her detention and activities of the campaigning group that has been seeking her release.

The development follows heightened tensions between Iran and the West after Donald Trump on May 8 pulled the US out of a 2015 deal between Iran and world power that saw a lifting of sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.