The charity worker and fellow detainee Anoosheh Ashoori were treated cruelly by Iran. But the UK is far from blameless
She’s free! In a world overwhelmed by woeful tidings, the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe after six years of hell in Tehran provides a rare moment of joy. Yet when the cheering stops, there will be many questions to answer – such as why now, and why on earth did it take so long?
Pleasure and relief over this sudden breakthrough will be deservedly felt, first and foremost, by Nazanin’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, and their seven-year-old daughter, Gabriella. The family of another British-Iranian detainee, Anoosheh Ashoori, are celebrating his freedom, too. But Morad Tahbaz, a British-Iranian-American, has not been so fortunate. Although he has been released and placed on furlough inside the country, Iran is reportedly treating him as an American citizen and thus part of a separate negotiation with the US.
During an ordeal that never seemed to end, Richard Ratcliffe’s tirelessly intelligent, passionate campaign for his wife’s release won the respect not only of the British public, but also of a too secretive Foreign Office. Whitehall mandarins prefer to handle such matters privately, behind closed doors.
But their softly-softly approach, genuinely intended to avoid antagonising the Iranians, seemed only to embolden them. Hardliners such as Sadeq Amoli Larijani, a former chief justice who presided over Nazanin’s unjust, illegal incarceration, and his like-minded deputy, Ebrahim Raisi, who was elected president last year, are chief among the guilty men.
Simon Tisdall is a foreign affairs commentator