Iranian Kidnappers
The Times reports on the return of 5-year old Gabriella Zachary-Ratcliffe to the UK while her mum, Nazanin, languishes in prison having effectively been kidnapped by Iran's Revolutionary Guard
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/girl-5-flies-home-leaving-jailed-mother-nazanin-zaghari-ratcliffe-on-suicide-watch-in-iran-xtqmxk53k
Daughter, 5, flies home leaving jailed mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on suicide watch
Catherine Philp - The Times
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband has spoken of his “bittersweet” reunion with his five-year-old daughter after she returned to Britain, leaving her mother in jail without their weekly visits.
Gabriella, five, arrived at midnight on Thursday to an emotional reunion with Richard Ratcliffe, a journey he feared might not happen after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard pressured his wife not to allow her daughter to leave.
An interrogator visited Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe in prison on Wednesday and warned her she would return to court to face charges brought against her after Boris Johnson mistakenly stated that she was in Iran teaching journalists.
Gabriella Zaghari-Ratcliffe enters a press conference held by her father, Richard Ratcliffe, at Westminster - VICTORIA JONES/PA
“He was warning her she wouldn’t get out anytime soon,” Mr Ratcliffe told a press conference at Westminster where Gabriella cut a “welcome home” cake marking her return. “It’s clearly a vulnerable time. They put pressure on her in ways they’ve done before.”
Mr Ratcliffe told The Times last week that he was planning to bring his daughter home but was depending on Iran to issue an exit visa so she could leave. “It felt like it isn’t going to happen,” he said.
Gabriella’s exit visa was only issued on Wednesday after final permission from the Revolutionary Guard who watched her passage through Tehran’s airport where her mother was arrested in 2016 with her toddler daughter. British embassy officials accompanied her and her uncle to the airport “as protection” and looked after them through transit in Istanbul.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 40, is now on suicide watch at Evin prison, where authorities allowed her an exceptional call with her husband after bidding Gabriella farewell in person. “She was reasonably distraught,” Mr Ratcliffe said. “One of the things she really didn’t want to happen was her daughter to leave while she was still stuck in prison.”
He warned of the “real risk” his wife’s mental and physical condition will deteriorate. “If I’m honest, though, I think it will deteriorate anyway,” he added. Gabriella is “an important lifeline that’s been taken away”.
“He was warning her she wouldn’t get out anytime soon,” Mr Ratcliffe told a press conference at Westminster where Gabriella cut a “welcome home” cake marking her return. “It’s clearly a vulnerable time. They put pressure on her in ways they’ve done before.”
Mr Ratcliffe told The Times last week that he was planning to bring his daughter home but was depending on Iran to issue an exit visa so she could leave. “It felt like it isn’t going to happen,” he said.
Gabriella’s exit visa was only issued on Wednesday after final permission from the Revolutionary Guard who watched her passage through Tehran’s airport where her mother was arrested in 2016 with her toddler daughter. British embassy officials accompanied her and her uncle to the airport “as protection” and looked after them through transit in Istanbul.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 40, is now on suicide watch at Evin prison, where authorities allowed her an exceptional call with her husband after bidding Gabriella farewell in person. “She was reasonably distraught,” Mr Ratcliffe said. “One of the things she really didn’t want to happen was her daughter to leave while she was still stuck in prison.”
He warned of the “real risk” his wife’s mental and physical condition will deteriorate. “If I’m honest, though, I think it will deteriorate anyway,” he added. Gabriella is “an important lifeline that’s been taken away”.
Gabriella sits on her father’s lap as she cuts a “welcome home” cake. Mr Ratcliffe warned about her mother’s mental state in prison - PA
Mr Ratcliffe said that his daughter had been very brave about leaving her mother behind and returning to London to start school. Gabriella was aged 22 months when her mother was jailed. Her passport was confiscated for a year by Iranian authorities and she stayed with her grandparents in Tehran, losing the ability to speak English.
“She’s told Mummy that she will see her back in London,” Mr Ratcliffe said. “She’s told Granny not to get too sad. She’s promised Mummy she’s going to be brave.”
He and Gabriella spent her first night back in Britain with relatives. “She’s a bit shy, a bit traumatised, she hasn’t seen Daddy for a long time,” he said. “And there is a language problem, so she takes a while to feel safe. It’s just lovely to hold her again. I suddenly realised I was squeezing her too tight.”
He and Gabriella are lobbying to meet Mr Johnson soon to demand the government do more to secure Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release.
“We have been caught in the middle of a government fight,” he said. “We will be looking to meet with Boris as soon as possible. This is an area where he can make a difference. He undertook when he was foreign secretary to leave no stone unturned. He hasn’t yet delivered for us but he still has a chance.”
Tulip Siddiq, the family’s MP, demanded that the government comply with a court ruling to pay back an historic debt of £400 million to Iran that Tehran has linked to her detention.
“Nazanin and her family have been told by revolutionary guards that the debt is linked to her imprisonment,” she said. “I don’t advocate paying for us to release hostages but the truth is this isn’t an exchange for Nazanin, this is money that we owe Iran.”
She added: “I have now dealt with three prime ministers, with three foreign secretaries, with four Middle East ministers about this case. Every single one of those politicians have looked me in the eye and said that this has nothing to do with the debt that we owe Iran. But we know that’s not true.”
Mr Ratcliffe said that his daughter had been very brave about leaving her mother behind and returning to London to start school. Gabriella was aged 22 months when her mother was jailed. Her passport was confiscated for a year by Iranian authorities and she stayed with her grandparents in Tehran, losing the ability to speak English.
“She’s told Mummy that she will see her back in London,” Mr Ratcliffe said. “She’s told Granny not to get too sad. She’s promised Mummy she’s going to be brave.”
He and Gabriella spent her first night back in Britain with relatives. “She’s a bit shy, a bit traumatised, she hasn’t seen Daddy for a long time,” he said. “And there is a language problem, so she takes a while to feel safe. It’s just lovely to hold her again. I suddenly realised I was squeezing her too tight.”
He and Gabriella are lobbying to meet Mr Johnson soon to demand the government do more to secure Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release.
“We have been caught in the middle of a government fight,” he said. “We will be looking to meet with Boris as soon as possible. This is an area where he can make a difference. He undertook when he was foreign secretary to leave no stone unturned. He hasn’t yet delivered for us but he still has a chance.”
Tulip Siddiq, the family’s MP, demanded that the government comply with a court ruling to pay back an historic debt of £400 million to Iran that Tehran has linked to her detention.
“Nazanin and her family have been told by revolutionary guards that the debt is linked to her imprisonment,” she said. “I don’t advocate paying for us to release hostages but the truth is this isn’t an exchange for Nazanin, this is money that we owe Iran.”
She added: “I have now dealt with three prime ministers, with three foreign secretaries, with four Middle East ministers about this case. Every single one of those politicians have looked me in the eye and said that this has nothing to do with the debt that we owe Iran. But we know that’s not true.”
Iranian Kidknappers (16/11/17)
Politics Home reports that the Iranian regime is effectively demanding a ransom to secure the release of Nazanin Zachary-Ratcliffe who was arrested while on holiday with her two year old daughter on trumped-up charges of trying to overthrow Iran's government.
I first wrote about this Iranian 'kidnapping' back in December 2016, but since then I haven't heard any criticism from Jeremy Corbyn who has long standing connections with Iran - or George Galloway who was a regular presenter on Press TV, a broadcaster controlled by the Iranian regime.
Jeremy Corbyn was also paid £20,000 for a series of appearances on Press TV, according to media reports, but surely both men should be doing more to attack the behaviour of the Iranian regime as well as taking the much easier option of criticising the dumb words of the UK Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson.
https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/home-affairs/prisons/news/90638/iran-demands-millions-pounds-hand-over-nazanin-zaghari?
Iran 'demands millions of pounds' to hand over Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
By Agnes Chambre - Politics Home
Iranian officials have handed the Foreign Office a number of multi-million pound demands in exchange for freeing Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, according to reports.
Iranian officials have handed the Foreign Office a number of multi-million pound demands in exchange for freeing Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, according to reports.
Richard Ratcliffe was meet Boris Johnson later today - Credit: PA Images
Foreign Office ministers were told in a meeting the Iranian government expects the numerous demands to be met before the British mother will be released.
They include Britain settling a 38-year old bill for £400m for going back on a deal to sell Chieftan tanks to the country.
Downing Street slaps down Michael Gove over Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe gaffe
Jailed Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe 'angry' that Boris Johnson 'endangered her life'
Michael Gove: We don't know why Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran
And the Iranian embassy in London wants to be allowed to open a bank account - at the moment it physically hordes cash to avoid US sanctions.
Tehran also wants Britain and other European countries to open businesses there in a bid to show the nuclear deal has been prosperous.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been locked up in an Iranian jail for the past 18 months, and was warned last week that her five year sentence could be doubled after Boris Johnson told MPs she had been arrested for "training journalists".
The Foreign Secretary has since admitted he "could have been clearer" in his remarks, which have led to calls for him to be sacked by Theresa May.
The Sun reported although Iran is actively asking for a trade between the demands and Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release, ministers were left in little doubt following the meeting the requests were in exchange for the mother’s freedom.
One minister told the paper: “The Iranian regime conducts foreign policy by hostage taking. It always has done.
“Nazanin’s case is no different. This time, they want us to pay up.”
Mr Johnson will meet Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband for the first time later today.
The Foreign Office said the pair will discuss Richard Ratcliffe’s request his wife be given “diplomatic protection” and will talk about a possible joint trip to Iran before the end of the year.
If "the Iranian regime conducts foreign policy by hostage taking; it always has done" then Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe should not have returned there in the first place. She should know, being a journalist (or not) and a dual citizen. If the Iranians are trying to do a deal then Boris should tell them to "go whistle" (or not).
Foreign Office ministers were told in a meeting the Iranian government expects the numerous demands to be met before the British mother will be released.
They include Britain settling a 38-year old bill for £400m for going back on a deal to sell Chieftan tanks to the country.
Downing Street slaps down Michael Gove over Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe gaffe
Jailed Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe 'angry' that Boris Johnson 'endangered her life'
Michael Gove: We don't know why Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran
And the Iranian embassy in London wants to be allowed to open a bank account - at the moment it physically hordes cash to avoid US sanctions.
Tehran also wants Britain and other European countries to open businesses there in a bid to show the nuclear deal has been prosperous.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been locked up in an Iranian jail for the past 18 months, and was warned last week that her five year sentence could be doubled after Boris Johnson told MPs she had been arrested for "training journalists".
The Foreign Secretary has since admitted he "could have been clearer" in his remarks, which have led to calls for him to be sacked by Theresa May.
The Sun reported although Iran is actively asking for a trade between the demands and Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release, ministers were left in little doubt following the meeting the requests were in exchange for the mother’s freedom.
One minister told the paper: “The Iranian regime conducts foreign policy by hostage taking. It always has done.
“Nazanin’s case is no different. This time, they want us to pay up.”
Mr Johnson will meet Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband for the first time later today.
The Foreign Office said the pair will discuss Richard Ratcliffe’s request his wife be given “diplomatic protection” and will talk about a possible joint trip to Iran before the end of the year.
If "the Iranian regime conducts foreign policy by hostage taking; it always has done" then Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe should not have returned there in the first place. She should know, being a journalist (or not) and a dual citizen. If the Iranians are trying to do a deal then Boris should tell them to "go whistle" (or not).
Iranian Kidnappers (09/12/16)
Hassan Rouhani - Twitter
The Politics Home web site reports on the arrest and detention of a British-Iranian woman (Nazanin Zachary-Ratcliffe) who has, somewhat implausibly, been accused of spying and trying to overthrow the Iranian regime while in Iran on a family visit with her two-year-old child.
Sounds like something you would expect from the Peoples' Republic of North Korea and its barmy leader Kim Jong-un, yet the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani studied at Glasgow Caledonian University, my former alma mater as well.
Husband of jailed British-Iranian woman in Tehran hits out at Foreign Office
By Sebastian Whale - Politics Home
The husband of a woman jailed in Iran on charges of spying against the state has said Britain is not doing enough to secure her release.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Whitehall - Credit: PA Images
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker for the Thomson Reuters Foundation who has dual British and Iranian citizenship, was sentenced to five-years in prison in September on charges of using a “spy network” to overthrow the Iranian regime.
Theresa May raised her situation in her first face-to-face meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the UN General Assembly that same month, while Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said her case was an “utmost priority”, but failed to call for her release.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe spent six weeks in solitary confinement after being arrested at Tehran airport on 3 April while she was returning from a holiday with her two-year-old daughter, Gabriella.
Gabriella has since been unable to return home to the UK and to her father Richard Ratcliffe. She is currently staying with her grandparents in Iran after having her passport taken.
Mr Ratcliffe told the Times: “Actions speak louder than words. The authorities have not bothered to visit Nazanin in prison or Gabriella despite the fact other countries have managed it.
“I haven’t heard any public criticism of the Iranians for what they have put my wife through or any outright calls for her release.”
The Times reports that Mr Johnson did not confirm or deny that a long running argument over an arms deal was behind Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s detention.
Iran claims that Britain owes it around £400m for not completing an arms deal signed with Shah Pahlavi before the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
Britain reportedly delivered 185 of the 1,500 Chieftain tanks that Iran purchased, but paused deliveries after the Shah was overthrown.
A European court ruling in 2010 ordered the UK to repay the debt.
“I don’t think the Foreign Office has my wife’s or daughter’s best interest at heart, it is clear there is something else going on and that has been a shock,” Mr Ratcliffe said.
“The Foreign Office is in regular contact with the Iranian government at all levels,” Mr Johnson said.
“It remains a matter that is of the utmost priority for this government.”
Iran has also recently indicted other dual nationals Homa Hoodfar, a Canadian-Iranian professor, and Siamak Namazi, an American-Iranian businessman.
More than 800,000 people have signed a petition – created by Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard – calling for her release.
New President (18/06/13)
So the Iranian people have spoken and - despite all of the gerrymandering involved - the voters elected a 'moderate' candidate in Hassan Rouhani - decisively rejected the man favoured by the religious establishment, Saeed Jalili.
Just imagine what might happen in Iran if the people had a truly free vote - and the ability to vote for any candidate of their choosing instead of a carefully selected all male slate - vetted by a Guardian Council which is appointed by the Supreme Ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khameni.
The turnout was impressive at 72% and Hassan Rouhani won an overall majority on the first ballot with 18,613,329 votes - or 51% of the total votes cast - easily beating all of his rivals.
Mr Rouhani claims to have a link with Scotland, or Glasgow to be precise, and says he attended Glasgow College of Technology many years ago - before it became Glasgow Caledonian University.
By a strange coincidence, I went there too - so maybe I've actually met him, maybe I should drop him a note and see if I can get an interview with the new Iranian President - on the basis of our shared past.
Now that would be cool.
Hassan Rouhani: 18,613,329
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf: 6,077,292
Saeed Jalili: 4,168,946
Mohsen Rezai: 3,884,412
Ali Akbar Velayati: 2,268,753
Mohammad Gharazi: 446,015
Votes cast: 36,704,156
Many people wore Mr Rouhani's election colour of purple as they took to the streets.
Just imagine what might happen in Iran if the people had a truly free vote - and the ability to vote for any candidate of their choosing instead of a carefully selected all male slate - vetted by a Guardian Council which is appointed by the Supreme Ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khameni.
The turnout was impressive at 72% and Hassan Rouhani won an overall majority on the first ballot with 18,613,329 votes - or 51% of the total votes cast - easily beating all of his rivals.
Mr Rouhani claims to have a link with Scotland, or Glasgow to be precise, and says he attended Glasgow College of Technology many years ago - before it became Glasgow Caledonian University.
By a strange coincidence, I went there too - so maybe I've actually met him, maybe I should drop him a note and see if I can get an interview with the new Iranian President - on the basis of our shared past.
The election results
Hassan Rouhani: 18,613,329
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf: 6,077,292
Saeed Jalili: 4,168,946
Mohsen Rezai: 3,884,412
Ali Akbar Velayati: 2,268,753
Mohammad Gharazi: 446,015
Votes cast: 36,704,156
Many people wore Mr Rouhani's election colour of purple as they took to the streets.
Tens of thousands of Iranians took to the streets after the results were announced on Saturday, many wearing Mr Rouhani's election colour of purple, but others dressed in the green of the reformist movement.
Hassan Rouhani is regarded as a religious moderate and is fluent in English, German, French, Russian and Arabic.
