The UK Foreign Office says it does not have to assist Anglo-Iranian political prisoner Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (pictured), detained since April 2016 in Iran.
In a letter delivered to Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s lawyers, the Foreign Office said British citizens arrested overseas have no right to help or protection, even if they are tortured or held as diplomatic leverage.
The lawyers had asked the Foreign Office to set out the Government’s view of its obligations.
Sarah Broughton, head of consular affairs, responded, “British citizens falsely accused overseas have no legal right to consular assistance.”
She added that, despite a UN finding that Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s treatment in prison amounts torture, the UK Government “cannot investigate torture or mistreatment allegations”.
British citizens who are wrongfully arrested and tortured overseas will have no legal right to consular assistance or protection from the state, the Foreign Office has announced.
In a letter to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe s lawyers, the Government said it was under no legal obligation to provide assistance to citizens who were falsely accused of a crime while travelling with a British passport.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 41, a charity worker with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in April 2016 at Tehran airport as she was returning home to London with her then 22-month-old daughter, Gabriella, following a family visit in 2016.
The British-Iranian dual national was jailed for five years on allegations that she plotted to overthrow the Iranian government.
LONDON: British citizens unjustly arrested abroad have no right to government protection even if they face torture or are used as diplomatic leverage against the UK, the Foreign Office has warned.
The comments were made in a letter to lawyers representing Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the Iranian-British dual national detained by Tehran, The Times newspaper reported.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to five years in prison on charges of “sowing dissent” against the Iranian regime, which she denies. Tehran’s actions have been widely condemned as being politically motivated.
Since Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s arrest, she has not once been visited by UK officials either in prison or at home, where she has been since March.