The British-Iranian woman was held in Iran for nearly six years but is on her way back, her MP says.
Image source, PA
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman detained in Iran nearly six years ago, has been freed and is on her way to the UK, her MP has said.
The 43-year-old was arrested in 2016 and accused of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, which she denied.
Tulip Siddiq MP tweeted that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was at the airport in Tehran.
She had been under house arrest and was given her UK passport back this week.
Her husband Richard Ratcliffe, who lives with their six-year-old daughter Gabriella in Hampstead, London, had campaigned for her release, including by going on hunger strike in October last year.
Earlier Ms Siddiq, Labour’s MP for Hampstead and Kilburn in London, said Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been “dreaming” about the day she could return to the UK.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told BBC Breakfast that securing her freedom, and the freedom of other dual national detainees – like Anoosheh Ashoori and Morad Tahbaz – was “an absolute priority”.
A £400m debt relating to a cancelled order for 1,500 Chieftain tanks dating back to the 1970s had been linked to the continued detention of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other UK-Iranian dual nationals held in the country – although the government has said the two issues should not be linked.
Ms Truss said the debt was “legitimate” and that the government was “looking for ways to pay” it.
