Anglo-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe released after five years in prison, but now regime wants to put her to a new trial

British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, sentenced in Iran to five years in prison for suspected espionage, was released on Sunday but faces a new court case, Very criticized by London.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s lawyer Hoyat Kermani reported that his five-year sentence ended today and the restriction on movement within a radius of more than 300 meters imposed last year has been removed.

The woman, who was Thomson Reuters Foundation employee and was arrested in 2016 while visiting her family in Tehran, she had been serving her sentence under house arrest since March at her parents’ home in the Iranian capital.

Although he was released today, the lawyer told the official agency IRNA that the date for the examination of the second case against his client has been set by the Islamic Revolutionary Court at next March 14.

The charges against Zaghari-Ratcliffe in this case relate to propaganda activities against the theocratic regime in Iran, as notified last September.

The British government then called the new accusation “indefensible and unacceptable”. and urged Iran not to return its citizen to jail.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released from prison in temporary freedom a year ago thanks to a permit that Persian authorities have granted to more than 100,000 inmates to prevent the spread of the coronavirus through prisons.

The Anglo-Iranian is no longer controlled by a telematic bracelet but it is not known whether he will be allowed to leave Iran.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabriella have said they look forward to welcoming her to their north London home. The girl “has a calendar in which she crosses out the days”, Ratcliffe told the UK news agency PENNSYLVANIA.

His case was widely reported and mobilized the UK government and Amnesty International, who rejected the five-year prison sentence for crimes against state security, which the woman and the Thomson Reuters Foundation deny.

“We celebrate the removal of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s ankle, but the treatment Iran continues to suffer is intolerable “British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a message on Twitter.

It has been speculated that his arrest was linked to a debt the UK owes Iran. For over 40 years, when Shah Mohamad Reza Pahlaví bought 1,500 tanks worth £ 400million that were never delivered.

(With information from EFE Yes Europa Press)

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