Zaghari-Ratcliffe Has Ankle Tag Cast Off After Serving 5-Year Term In Iran - UK Lawmaker

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th March, 2021) Iran on Sunday released UK-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who in 2016 was jailed for alleged anti-government activities by Tehran, and removed her ankle tag, UK lawmaker Tulip Siddiq said on Sunday after speaking to the woman's family.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a Thomson Reuters Foundation employee at the time, was arrested in April 2016 in Iran on suspicions of plotting against the government. She was sentenced to five years in prison. Last March, the woman was released due to the COVID-19 pandemic but had to wear a tracking anklet.

"I have been in touch with Nazanin's family. Some news: 1) Thankfully her ankle tag has been removed. Her first trip will be to see her grandmother. 2) Less positive - she has been summoned once again to court next Sunday," Siddiq wrote on Twitter.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has welcomed the news but urged Iran to allow the citizen to return to the United Kingdom.

"We welcome the removal of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's ankle tag, but Iran's continued treatment of her is intolerable. She must be allowed to return to the UK as soon as possible to be reunited with her family," Raab tweeted.

In 2017, then-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson made a blunder by mistakenly stating that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was "simply teaching people journalism" when arrested, whereas the woman's family and Thomson Reuters Foundation maintain that the woman was in Iran on holiday.