Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt says the UK “is beginning to look weak” over its failure to protect citizens imprisoned in Iran such as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
The 42-year-old British-Iranian dual national, has been detained in Iran since 2016, when she was sentenced to five years in prison over allegations, which she denies, of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government.
She has been afforded diplomatic protection by the UK Government, which argues that she is innocent and that her treatment by Iran failed to meet obligations under international law.
Mr Hunt has written in The Times that for diplomatic protection to have meaning, there had to be consequences for Tehran.
Jeremy Hunt says Britain beginning to look weak by failing to protect Nazanin
42-year-old British-Iranian dual national, has been detained in Iran since 2016
Updated
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabriella (Image: Family Handout/PA Wire)
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Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt says the UK “is beginning to look weak” over its failure to protect citizens imprisoned in Iran such as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
The 42-year-old British-Iranian dual national, has been detained in Iran since 2016, when she was sentenced to five years in prison over allegations, which she denies, of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government.
She has been afforded diplomatic protection by the UK Government, which argues that she is innocent and that her treatment by Iran failed to meet obligations under international law.
Mr Hunt has written in The Times that for diplomatic protection to have meaning, there had to be consequences for Tehran.
Last modified on Tue 29 Dec 2020 23.36 EST
The former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the UK has been made to look weak by failing to do more to protect British Iranian dual nationals held as hostages in Iran.
He is the first former member of the Conservative government to say the UK should find a way to pay the £400m debt the UK owes to Iran, accusing the government of dithering over the issue and not thinking imaginatively about a way of paying the debt that does not fall foul of sanctions.
The debt is formally treated as a separate issue, but is widely seen as a barrier to the release of the British-Iranian dual nationals Anoosheh Ashoori and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. A third British dual national has just been given an eight-year sentence but not yet jailed.
is the story of two ordinary families caught up in an almost unimaginable situation:
Gabriella, the six-year-old daughter of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe held unjustly in Iran has spoken of wanting her “mummy home for Christmas” in a powerful new Amnesty International video made to highlight the plight of Zaghari-Ratcliffe and fellow detained UK-Iranian national Anoosheh Ashoori.
Gabriella Ratcliffe appears in the 10-minute video - called alongside Elika Ashoori, 34, daughter of the retired 66-year-old engineer arbitrarily detained in Iran in inhumane conditions since August 2017.
Ashoori and Zaghari-Ratcliffe have both received grossly unfair trials on trumped-up national security-related charges, and the two families have joined forces to campaign for the pair’s freedom.