By Emma Batha
LONDON, March 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe headed home from six years of captivity in Tehran on Wednesday, her surprise release sparking joy that she would finally join her London family.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, a project manager at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in Tehran in April 2016 after taking her then one-year-old daughter Gabriella to visit her parents for the Iranian New Year.
She was convicted of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment and sentenced to five years. In April 2021, she was sentenced to a further year in prison on a new propaganda charge, but had not yet started serving the term.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe denied all the charges against her and the case was widely seen as political.
As the charity worker flew to Britain, via a stopoff in Oman, her boss – Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO Antonio Zappulla – shared his thoughts on her release.
What’s your reaction to the news?
I’m extremely happy and excited. I saw the pictures of Nazanin boarding the plane and I got goosebumps.
It’s finally happening. It’s true. Nazanin is coming home and we’re over the moon. It’s been six long and dark years since she was effectively taken hostage. It’s been a very difficult time.
