Iran accused of ‘playing games’ over Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Husband Richard Ratcliffe angry at retraction of prisoner swap deal but still hopes for release on health grounds

The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman detained in Iran since 2016 on spying charges, has accused the authorities in Tehran of “playing games” with his family’s hopes, as he called on the Foreign Office to escalate its attempts to secure her release by the summer.

Richard Ratcliffe said he was still hopeful his wife would soon be released on health grounds, after she was finally allowed to have tests and MRI scans to determine whether the lumps in her breasts are cancerous. But speaking a day after the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, appeared to retract an offer of a prisoner swap, Ratcliffe spoke angrily of the authorities who have separated his wife from him and their four-year-old daughter, Gabriella.

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Iran offers prisoner swap for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

British-Iranian dual national, held in Tehran on espionage charges, could be released

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian dual national being held in a Tehran jail on espionage charges, could be released as part of a prisoner swap, Iran’s foreign minister has said.

Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday that he had the authority to make the swap happen, adding it had already been offered in private six months ago to the US.

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Foreign Office grants Zaghari-Ratcliffe diplomatic protection

Jeremy Hunt raises British-Iranian’s case to state dispute, meaning injury to her is now injury to UK

The Foreign Office (FCO) has escalated its conflict with Iran over the imprisonment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe by granting her diplomatic protection, a step that raises her case from a consular matter to the level of a dispute between the two states.

The move, likely to lead to increased tensions between the two countries, came after the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, judged Tehran was not meeting its human rights obligations to the British-Iranian dual national under international humanitarian law. She has been in a Tehran jail for three years, after being sentenced to five years for spying.

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe ‘offered freedom if she spied for Iran’

Husband of British woman says she was asked to be Iranian agent, as hunger strike begins

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman held by Tehran, started a hunger strike after her interrogators tried to persuade her to become a spy, her husband has claimed.

Richard Ratcliffe revealed his wife was calm as she began an initial three-day hunger strike in protest at the Iranian prison authorities’ refusal to give her a clear written undertaking she would receive medical help for a lump on her breast, and other concerns.

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Zaghari-Ratcliffe to go on hunger strike in Iranian jail

British woman announces joint protest after being denied access to medical care

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British woman imprisoned in Tehran on espionage charges, is to go on hunger strike in protest against being denied access to medical care.

The British-Iranian dual national is asking for access to a doctor. She announced the hunger strike from Tehran’s Evin prison in a joint letter with a fellow prisoner, the human rights activist Narges Mohammadi.

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