Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe/PA)
(Picture: PA Media)Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman who has been held hostage in Iran for almost six years, and Anoosheh Ashoori, another dual national detained in the country, are said to have been freed and are on their way back to the UK. Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s MP, Tulip Siddiq, said today: “Nazanin is at the airport in Tehran and on her way home.”
There was renewed optimism yesterday over Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe following the news that her British passport had been returned to her. Earlier today, the Prime Minister acknowledged talks were “going right up to the wire”.
The issue relates to a £400 million debt over a cancelled arms order which preceded the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Last December, Liz Truss acknowledged the money the UK owed was a “legitimate debt” that it ought to pay.
Hostage diplomacy is an outrageous tactic that should never have been used. Yet we recognise these have been fiendishly complicated negotiations and hope for nothing more than to see both reunited with their families after years of detainment and false starts.
We pay tribute to UK negotiators and to Richard Ratcliffe, Nazanin’s husband, for his tireless campaigning alongside daughter Gabriella to free his wife.
Met needs new boss
Scotland Yard has admitted that the treatment endured by a 15-year-old black girl, who was strip-searched at school, without another adult present and in full knowledge that she was on her period, was wrong.
A safeguarding review furthermore concluded that the strip search was unjustified and that racism “was likely to have been an influencing factor”.
Above and beyond the trauma suffered by the schoolgirl, the case is another blow to the Met’s reputation and further demonstrates the need for a new commissioner to come in and clean house.
