Sanika Deshpande –
Published On: October 17, 2021 at 14:59 IST
An Appeals Court in Iran upheld one-year prison term for British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on Security Offences.
The Court also upheld one-year ban on abroad travel. She now cannot leave Iran to visit her husband and two-year old daughter for 2 years.
“The appeals court has approved the lower court’s verdict without holding a hearing,” said her Lawyer Hojjat Kermani.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family and the foundation denied the charges.
Earlier in April, an Iranian Court had sentenced Zaghari-Ratcliffe to a new term in Jail on charges of Propaganda against the establishment where the 43-year old was found guilty when she participated in protests in front of Iranian Embassy in London in 2009.
Since the coronavirus pandemic, she was temporarily freed, with movements restricted to her parents’ Tehran home.
Rights groups have accused Tehran of using their dual-nationality advantage as a bargaining chip for money.
Iran, which does not recognise dual nationalities, has denied the accusations.
“Iran’s decision to proceed with these baseless charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is an appalling continuation of the cruel ordeal she is going through,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.
“Instead of threatening to return Nazanin to prison Iran must release her permanently” Truss added.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at a Tehran Airport in April 2016.
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