The Fort Worth Press - Two UK-Iranian nationals released from detention

USD -
AED 3.673042
AFN 73.115207
ALL 94.299186
AMD 398.437872
ANG 1.797019
AOA 914.503981
ARS 1053.827213
AUD 1.573564
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.862933
BBD 2.01324
BDT 121.150641
BGN 1.862933
BHD 0.376625
BIF 2952.421775
BMD 1
BND 1.33781
BOB 6.889556
BRL 5.704704
BSD 0.997095
BTN 86.442825
BWP 13.753393
BYN 3.263133
BYR 19600
BZD 2.002858
CAD 1.41895
CDF 2866.000362
CHF 0.899766
CLF 0.024543
CLP 941.83931
CNY 7.254041
CNH 7.259304
COP 4125.160737
CRC 505.596038
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 105.02929
CZK 23.852704
DJF 177.558699
DKK 7.111125
DOP 61.980283
DZD 135.26218
EGP 50.596752
ERN 15
ETB 127.714435
EUR 0.952604
FJD 2.297304
FKP 0.803654
GBP 0.794565
GEL 2.82504
GGP 0.803654
GHS 15.405058
GIP 0.803654
GMD 71.503851
GNF 8620.279087
GTQ 7.69729
GYD 208.610754
HKD 7.78461
HNL 25.419822
HRK 7.225076
HTG 130.466257
HUF 383.42504
IDR 16179.85
ILS 3.54655
IMP 0.803654
INR 86.630504
IQD 1306.186598
IRR 42087.503816
ISK 140.050386
JEP 0.803654
JMD 157.451064
JOD 0.709504
JPY 152.301504
KES 128.970805
KGS 87.450384
KHR 3991.998857
KMF 468.603794
KPW 900.090061
KRW 1441.430383
KWD 0.30832
KYD 0.830881
KZT 495.727961
LAK 21669.762347
LBP 89289.612802
LKR 294.680192
LRD 198.923656
LSL 18.321665
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.892127
MAD 9.954565
MDL 18.645521
MGA 4696.861456
MKD 58.608373
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3461.151901
MOP 7.993904
MRU 39.694242
MUR 46.470378
MVR 15.403739
MWK 1728.818403
MXN 20.301504
MYR 4.434504
MZN 63.903729
NAD 18.321665
NGN 1515.000344
NIO 36.690956
NOK 11.126835
NPR 138.30833
NZD 1.745673
OMR 0.38475
PAB 0.997095
PEN 3.704529
PGK 4.010097
PHP 57.695038
PKR 278.325761
PLN 3.97197
PYG 7856.360432
QAR 3.634995
RON 4.743404
RSD 111.568319
RUB 90.965376
RWF 1398.961756
SAR 3.75053
SBD 8.432716
SCR 14.38015
SDG 601.000339
SEK 10.69502
SGD 1.339104
SHP 0.823587
SLE 22.750371
SLL 20969.505638
SOS 569.795685
SRD 35.223038
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.724103
SYP 13003.016048
SZL 18.317855
THB 33.738038
TJS 10.883269
TMT 3.5
TND 3.157022
TOP 2.342104
TRY 36.24933
TTD 6.766681
TWD 32.680504
TZS 2592.46559
UAH 41.490784
UGX 3669.095585
UYU 43.310949
UZS 12955.184074
VES 61.976954
VND 25390
VUV 123.663246
WST 2.837369
XAF 624.810211
XAG 0.031102
XAU 0.000347
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.763442
XOF 624.810211
XPF 113.597181
YER 248.000331
ZAR 18.359804
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 28.093537
ZWL 321.999592
  • SCS

    -0.0700

    12.35

    -0.57%

  • VOD

    -0.0700

    8.36

    -0.84%

  • BTI

    -0.7900

    38.82

    -2.04%

  • NGG

    -0.5400

    60.73

    -0.89%

  • GSK

    -0.3800

    36.17

    -1.05%

  • CMSC

    0.0900

    23.5

    +0.38%

  • RBGPF

    63.5700

    63.57

    +100%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    7.84

    +0.26%

  • CMSD

    0.1872

    23.69

    +0.79%

  • BCC

    1.0300

    121.63

    +0.85%

  • BCE

    0.1900

    23.82

    +0.8%

  • RIO

    0.0700

    63.36

    +0.11%

  • BP

    0.5100

    35

    +1.46%

  • RELX

    -0.8400

    51.07

    -1.64%

  • AZN

    -0.8700

    73.58

    -1.18%

  • JRI

    0.0435

    12.83

    +0.34%

Two UK-Iranian nationals released from detention
Two UK-Iranian nationals released from detention

Two UK-Iranian nationals released from detention

Two dual UK-Iranian nationals have been released from custody, the authorities in Tehran said on Wednesday, ending a lengthy ordeal after years of diplomatic wrangling between the two countries over a cancelled defence deal.

Text size:

Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been "handed over" to the UK authorities, while the judiciary also confirmed the release of Anoosheh Ashoori.

The pair's release came after UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss indicated that London and Tehran had resolved a £400-million ($520-million, 475-million-euro) debt dating back to the time of the Shah of Iran.

The families of both Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori believe they were being held as political prisoners until the issue was settled.

Truss told BBC radio on Wednesday she had made it "a priority to ensure that we are paying back the debt that we legitimately owe the Iranian authorities".

The UK has consciously avoided saying the detention of the pair, and others held in Iran, was linked to the debt, related to an order of tanks that was cancelled after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Truss said the issues were separate and blamed sanctions on Iran for delaying the repayment.

There was no immediate official confirmation in London of the pair's release. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said only that reports they were coming home "feels like positive signs".

And he dismissed suggestions from the main opposition Labour party that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had worsened the situation by making comments about the reasons for Zaghari-Ratcliffe's detention when he was foreign secretary.

He told Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner: "She shouldn't give succour to the despotic regime that detained our nationals in Iran or around the world by suggesting it is anyone else's responsibility other than theirs."

- 'On her way home' -

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the news and data agency, was arrested in Tehran on a visit to family in 2016.

The mother-of-one, from north London, was sentenced to five years in prison for plotting to overthrow the government.

Last year she was given a further 12-month jail term for taking part in a rally outside the Iranian embassy in London in 2009.

Ashoori, a retired engineer from southeast London, was arrested in 2017 and jailed for 10 years on charges of spying for Israel.

Both have strenuously denied the charges, while Ashoori in January began a hunger strike at Tehran's Evin prison.

Hopes were raised about Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release after she had her British passport returned to her on Tuesday while a UK negotiating team was in Iran.

On Wednesday, her local MP Tulip Siddiq said Zaghari-Ratcliffe was "at the airport in Tehran and on her way home". She also praised Truss for her efforts.

- 'Trumped-up charges' -

Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK's chief executive, welcomed the "fantastic news" of the release, saying both were "jailed on trumped-up national security charges".

"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," he added.

Raoof, a labour rights activist, was detained in October 2020 and was being held in solitary confinement, according to Amnesty.

Tahbaz, an Iranian-American who also holds British nationality, was arrested alongside other environmentalists in January 2018 and sentenced to 10 years in jail for "conspiring with America".

Dual nationals from Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden and the United States have also been arrested in similar circumstances.

Richard Ratcliffe staged a hunger strike outside the foreign ministry in London last October after his wife lost her latest appeal, and as government ministers held talks with Iranian counterparts.

She was freed from prison with an electronic tag in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic but had been held in Iran under a form of house arrest ever since.

Ashoori went on hunger strike having failed to see "any progress" in British efforts to bring about his release and "no sign the welfare of hostages held by Iran is a priority of the US, European and UK governments", his daughter Elika Ashoori said.

Campaigners and families of those held have said that the issue of detainees is being forgotten by the West as powers seek to negotiate a revival of the 2015 deal on the Iranian nuclear programme in Vienna.

burs-cjo-phz/raz

M.T.Smith--TFWP