GB: Woman who was detained in Iran calls for prisoner's release

LONDON (AP) — Britian-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe reported on Monday that she endured nearly six years in detention in Iran thanks to the memories of her daughter, while calling for Morad Tahbaz, another prisoner who was not included in the release agreement, to be released.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was released last week after the United Kingdom canceled a debt it had to Iran for decades, expressed her gratitude to be free, but emphasized that she does not consider her misadventure over until Tahbaz and others are released as well.

“I believe that the meaning of freedom will never be complete until all those unjustly detained in Iran are able to reunite with our families,” Zaghari-Ratcliffe said at a press conference that was attended by Tahbaz's daughter.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori were released Wednesday amid efforts by Britain, the United States and other countries to free dual citizenship detained in Iran, a country that does not recognize dual citizenship. Human rights groups accuse Iran of accusing dual nationals on false charges, in order to extract concessions from Western powers.

The events emerge amid intense international efforts to bring both Iran and the United States back to the agreement that Tehran would limit its nuclear activities in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions. Negotiations have been hampered by the issue of prisoners in Iran.

Countries have moved closer to a mechanism to restore the agreement, although recent Russian demands have slowed progress.

When Zaghari-Ratcliff and Ashoori were released, the British government said it had also negotiated the parole of Tahbaz, who would have to remain in Iran while some details are resolved. Tahbaz's case has been complicated by the fact that he also holds US citizenship, apart from British and Iranian citizenship.

His lawyer in Iran, Hojjat Kermani, said on Monday that Tahbaz was never released on parole. Instead, he was allowed to stay with his family for 48 hours, guarded by armed guards, and then reimprisoned.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was imprisoned for five years. She was later found guilty of plotting a plot to overthrow the Iranian government, an accusation she so denied. She worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency, when she was arrested in April 2016 at Tehran airport as she was about to return to Britain after visiting her family in Iran.

Ashoori was arrested in Tehran in August 2017. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of having links with Mossad — the Israeli intelligence agency — which his relatives and supporters denied.

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Isabel DeBre contributed to this story from Dubai.