Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe released from Iranian prison after six years

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been detained in Iran for the past six years, has been freed from prison and is preparing to board a flight home to the UK.

According to Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s lawyer Hojjat Kermani, speaking this morning, she and her daughter have been reunited and are travelling to the airpot in Tehran after having had her passport returned earlier this week.

Her MP, Labour’s Tulip Siddiq of Hampstead and Kilburn, who has campaigned for her release, tweeted: “Nazanin is at the airport in Tehran and on her way home. I came into politics to make a difference, and right now I’m feeling like I have.”

The 43-year-old woman had been detained in Iran for six years after being arrested while visiting family in the country. The Iranian authorities accused her of plotting to overthrow the government, an allegation she denied.

Siddiq told the BBC that today is an “emotional day”, adding: “It feels like we’re on the home run now but until she leaves that airport we can’t believe it.” She said she has spoken to Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard Ratcliffe this morning.

She told Sky News later: “Richard reconfirmed to me that she is at the airport, she does have her British passport, but he also said that he is cautious about the fact that the Iranian revolutionary guard will still be looking after her or, if you like, she is in their control.”

Siddiq said earlier today that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been “dreaming” of the day she could return to the UK and be reunited with her family. Since her detention began in 2016 her London-based husband has campaigned for her release, including by going on hunger strike last year.

The Labour MP demanded answers from the UK government over ministerial efforts to secure the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe last year while asserting that “at the heart of this tragic case is the Prime Minister’s dismal failure”.

Boris Johnson, serving at the time as Foreign Secretary, criticised the conviction of Zaghari-Ratcliffe while appearing before a parliamentary committee in 2017 but added that she was “simply teaching people journalism”.

Three days after his statement, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was summoned before an unscheduled court hearing where Johnson’s comments were cited as evidence that the dual national was engaged in “propaganda against the regime”.

Siddiq paid tribute to Liz Truss earlier this morning on Times Radio, telling listeners: “I’ve dealt with three Prime Ministers and five Foreign Secretaries. It’s finally when I came to woman who was Foreign Sec who actually did something.”

A £400m debt relating to a cancelled order for 1,500 tanks dating back to the 1970s, from the UK to Iran, had been linked to the continued detention of Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other UK-Iranian dual nationals. The government has repeatedly insisted that the two issues are not connected.

An Iranian foreign correspondent reported on Monday that the debt had been paid. Truss said this morning, however, that repaying the £400m debt that the British government owes Iran was a “priority” for her but she refused to say more.

Update, 3.30pm: In a statement this afternoon, Truss told MPs: “We have found a way to make the payment in full, in compliance with UK and international sanctions and global counter-terrorism financing and anti-money laundering regulations.

“A sum of £393.8m has now been paid, which will only be available for humanitarian purposes. The terms remain confidential to both parties.”

Keir Starmer described her release as an “incredibly moment after so much anguish”, praising Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family for the “courage that they have shown over so many years”, adding: “There will be questions of course for others to answer, but at the moment I’m so pleased for them as a family.”