Thousands of people across the world have been tracking Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's Government-chartered flight back to her family in the UK following a six year ordeal locked up in an Iranian prison. As many as 20,000 people at one time were tracing the journey of her flight home on Wednesday evening, where it is set to land in Brize Norton, West Oxfordshire.
With tens of thousands of eyes watching her flight's journey, it became the most tracked flight in the world on Wednesday evening, according to Flight Radar. It took off from Muscat shortly after 9pm and was set to touch down in the UK at around 1am.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is returning back to her family on British soil after her six-year ordeal in Iran was brought to an end, as the UK Government settled an outstanding £400 million debt owed to the regime in Tehran. Her husband Richard Ratcliffe, who fought a tenacious battle to secure her release, said it meant “we can stop being a moment in history and start being a normal family again”.
READ MORE Who is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and why was she jailed in Iran?
The British-Iranian mother is returning to Britain, along with a second dual national, Anoosheh Ashoori. A third British detainee, Morad Tahbaz, has been released from prison on furlough. Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been detained on security charges by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Imam Khomeini airport after a holiday visit to Iran, where she hoped to introduced her daughter Gabriella to her parents.
Mr Ashoori has been in prison for almost five years while Mr Tahbaz has been held for four. Their release follows months of intensive diplomatic negotiations between London and Tehran.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “We have the deepest admiration for the resolve, courage and determination Nazanin, Anoosheh and Morad, and their families, have shown. They have faced hardship that no family should ever experience and this is a moment of great relief.”
Mr Ratcliffe has long claimed that his wife was being used as a pawn in a dispute between the UK and Iran over the unpaid debt linked to an arms deal. The UK has paid the £393.8 million owed to Iran after it cancelled an order of Chieftain tanks following the overthrow of the shah in the revolution of 1979.
In a statement, Ms Truss confirmed the debt had been settled “in parallel” with the release of the detainees. She said it had been done “in full compliance with UK and international sanctions and all legal obligations”.
She added: “These funds will be ring-fenced solely for the purchase of humanitarian goods.” Sanctions on the Tehran regime had been one of the key sticking points in being able to settle the debt.
After a nervous wait for final confirmation of their release from Iran, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori were initially taken to the Gulf state of Oman, which has been closely involved in the behind-the-scenes negotiations to secure their freedom. Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, posted a picture of them arriving at the airport, adding: “Soon they will be with their loved ones at home.”
And Tulip Siddiq, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s MP also confirmed on Wednesday evening that Nazanin’s plane has taken off from Oman and she is due to arrive back in the UK. She shared a heartwarming photo to her twitter account.
From there it is expected they will be flown on a Government-chartered flight to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. In the Commons, with Mr Ratcliffe and Gabriella, seven, watching, Ms Truss set out details of their release. "It was only when we heard that the wheels were up in Tehran that we really knew it was happening,” she said.
Her husband, Mr Ratcliffe, had campaigned tirelessly for her release, including staging a hunger strike outside the Foreign Office. He said: “It is going to be lovely to see her, lovely to catch up with her.”
Mr Ratcliffe said he had been “kept out of the loop” on discussions about settling the arms debt, but “I’m relieved the problem has been solved”. He added that his wife had asked him to make her a cup of tea when she arrives in the UK.
Speaking alongside daughter Gabriella, now seven, he added: “I think actually we were looking at the house and it needs a bit of tidying, so there might be a bit of tidying, perhaps directed by mummy when she comes back.”
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