Another British national has been released from prison in Iran after Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was allowed to go home to the UK after six years detention.
Wildlife conservationist Morad Tahbaz was released from detention and put “on furlough”, foreign secretary Liz Truss said. She said that he was temporarily at home in Iran but with security in place.
Mr Tahbaz, who was born in Hammersmith in London, has been described by human rights organisation Amnesty International as a “prisoner of conscience”.
He had been kept in Elvin prison in Tehran on charges of espionage after he used cameras to track endangered species as part of his conservation work.
The British-American has been working with a number of wildlife conservationists in Iran to conduct research into endangered animals, including the Asiatic cheetah and Persian leopard.
Speaking about Mr Tahbaz’s case in the Commons on Wednesday, foreign secretary Liz Truss said: “It is a very very difficult situation. Morad Tahbaz is a tri-national. We pushed very hard to get Morad out of prison.
“I have been in touch today and he is now back in his house, with security in place, but with his family.
“We will continue to work to get him back and work with the United States to make that happen.”
Sacha Deskmusk, Amnesty International’s UK chief executive, said: “The government needs to follow up on Nazanin and Anoosheh’s release by immediately renewing its calls for the release of the UK nationals Mehran Raoof and Morad Tahbaz, both of whom are still going through an ordeal all too similar to Nazanin and Anoosheh’s”.
She added: “It’s been clear for years that the Iranian authorities are targeting foreign nationals with spurious national security-related charges to exert diplomatic pressure, and it’s more important than ever that Britain works multilaterally to combat this insidious practice.”
