British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe sentenced to further one year in jail
UK aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been jailed for another year and is prohibited from leaving Iran for that time, according to her lawyer.
The UK-Iranian national was arrested by police during a visit to Iran with her young daughter to see her parents in 2016.
She was sent to prison amid allegations of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, despite continually denying the accusations made against her.
In March 2020, the mum-of-one was released to her parents’ house due to the Covid-19 pandemic but was placed under house arrest.
Her lawyer recently said that Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s electronic tag, which prevented her from going more than 300m from her home in the capital of Tehran, has been “cast off”.
Now, however, an Iranian Revolutionary court has sentenced the aid worker to a one-year prison sentence, as well as prohibiting her from leaving Iran for one year.
Hojjat Kermani, Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s lawyer, told Emtedad news website: “Nazanin Zaghari was sentenced to one year in prison and one year ban from leaving the country on charges of propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”
The PM Boris Johnson has today told reporters that he thought Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s sentencing was “wrong.”
Johnson said: “We will have to study the detail of what the Iranian authorities are saying.
“I don’t think it’s right at all that Nazanin should be sentenced to any more time in jail. I think that it was wrong,” as reported by Sky News.
The PM continued: “I think it’s wrong that she’s there in the first place and we’ll be working very hard to secure her release from Iran.”
