Iranian British aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was reunited with her family on the morning of March 17, six years after she was detained in Iran.
She and Anoosheh Ashoori, another Iranian British detainee, touched down on British soil at RAF Brize Norton at just after 1 a.m. local time.
A video shared on social media showed the emotional homecoming as Zaghari-Ratcliffe hugged and kissed her 7-year-old daughter, and Ashoori’s family sobbed.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori left Iran on March 16 after their release was secured. They were initially taken to the Gulf state of Oman, which has been closely involved in the behind-the-scenes negotiations to secure their freedom.
A third British detainee, Morad Tahbaz, has been released from prison on furlough but remains in Iran.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked the Omani government for its help in bringing the pair home.
Speaking on a visit to Saudi Arabia, he said: “It is fantastic news that Nazanin is out. I am thrilled also for Anoosheh Ashoori and Morad Tahbaz, who are also out.
“It has been a lot of work by a lot of people. I want to pay particular tribute to her husband, Richard. It is fantastic that she will be able to come back, see her family, see her daughter Gabriella.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at a Tehran airport in April 2016 as she prepared to head back to Britain with her daughter after a family visit. She was later jailed after being convicted of plotting to overthrow Iran’s clerical establishment.
Ashoori, 67, was sentenced to 10 years in jail in 2019 for allegedly spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and two years for “acquiring illegitimate wealth.”
Both have consistently denied the allegations.
The release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori follows months of intensive diplomatic negotiations between London and Tehran, including the payment of a £400 million ($523 million) debt dating back to the 1970s owed to Iran by the UK.
The UK government accepted that it should pay the “legitimate debt” for an order of 1,500 Chieftain tanks, which was not fulfilled after the shah was deposed and replaced by the Islamic regime.
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed that he had authorised the payment on March 10 to clear the historical debt “in parallel” with the release of the two.
In the House of Commons, MPs warmly welcomed the news of the release, but some raised fears that the settlement could encourage the Iranian regime to take more hostages for political and financial gains.
Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, reminded the government of a precedent in which the regime took more hostages after receiving ransom from the United States.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss stressed that the debt and the detainees were “two parallel issues in our bilateral relationship” and said the UK is “joining a group” with the Canadians and other G-7 nations to “end the practice of arbitrary detention.”
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