London: Two British citizens who had been jailed in Iran for more than five years — charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and retired civil engineer Anoosheh Ashoori — returned home on Thursday after the UK settled a decades-old debt to Iran.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe spent six years in detention in one of the world’s highest-profile cases of hostage diplomacy. She was given back her passport and granted permission to leave Iran.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said it was the result of “tenacious and creative British diplomacy” and confirmed speculation that the UK had settled the debt to Iran.
“After years of detention by the government of Iran, British nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori will return from Iran today. Morad Tahbaz has also been released from prison on furlough,” Truss said ahead of their trip. Tahbaz holds US, British and Iranian citizenships.
“Nazanin has been held in Iran for almost six years, and Anoosheh almost five. Morad has been in prison for four. They will be reunited with their families and loved ones.”
Truss said Britain had settled its debts with Iran, “as we said we would”.
“I made resolving the continued detention of British nationals and the [International Military Services] debt payment my top priorities when I entered office in September 2021,” she said.
Read the article by Latika Bourke in The Sydney Morning Herald.