Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe ‘told to pack bag for prison return' after court summons

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained in Iran since 2016. Credit: PA

"Desperate" Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been told to prepare for prison after being summoned to court on Monday, her family have said.

The 42-year-old British-Iranian has been detained in Iran since 2016 when she was sentenced to five years in prison over allegations of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, which she denies.

The mother-of-one has been out of prison but under house arrest in Tehran since March due to the coronavirus crisis.

But, on Tuesday, just months before her expected release date, she was presented with a court summons and told to pack a bag to bring to the hearing on Monday, her husband Richard Ratcliffe said.

Mr Radcliffe claimed the court summons is the Revolutionary Guard "signalling something to the British government"

He said he had a number of “difficult” calls with his wife following the summons while she raised concerns she was “paying the price” for a British debt dating back to the 1970s.

It has been claimed Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being held to force the UK to pay back £400 million that the then-shah of Iran paid for 1,500 Chieftain tanks before he was toppled in 1979.

The UK refused to deliver the tanks to the new Islamic republic and kept the money, despite British courts accepting it should be repaid.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe told her husband on Wednesday: “It’s me paying the price. What am I supposed to do? Just pack a bag and accept I’ll be going back?

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been separated from her daughter for more than four years. Credit: PA

“I am so desperate. Promise I won’t go back. I am dying of this stress – of being taken back.

“I can’t stop thinking about it. I am almost paralysed. I envy everyone that is free.”

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was returned to court in September and told she would face a second trial, but this was postponed at short notice with no future date set.

Her husband said it would hear charges of spreading anti-government propaganda, in a case officials dropped in December 2017, after a visit from the then foreign secretary Boris Johnson, but reopened in May 2018.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s local MP Tulip Siddiq said the timing of the trial raised “serious concerns” as she said it follows the postponement of a court hearing about the historic debt.

The MP for Hampstead and Kilburn said in a statement: “Nazanin has once again been treated with utter contempt and I am extremely concerned about her future and wellbeing.

“The timing of this development alongside the postponement of the court hearing about the UK’s historic debt to Iran raises serious concerns.

Richard Ratcliffe has welcomed the news of Dr Moore-Gilbert’s release Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA

“I can only hope that there is work going on behind the scenes to resolve the debt quickly because we seem to be going in completely the wrong direction and Nazanin, as ever, is paying the price.”

Mr Ratcliffe said he had spoken with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Tuesday, asking him to formally assert the UK’s right to consular access in visiting Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and attending the trial.

“As Nazanin’s husband, I do think that if she’s not home for Christmas, there’s every chance this could run for years,” Mr Ratcliffe added.

“I really hope there’s something we’re not being told, as on the face of it, the Government’s response seems disastrous, just extraordinary that they won’t change course.”

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport while travelling to show her young daughter, Gabriella, to her parents in April 2016.

She was later afforded diplomatic protection by the UK Government, which argues that she is innocent and that her treatment by Iran failed to meet obligations under international law.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has been contacted for comment.