LONDON –
A British-Iranian charity worker who has been detained in Tehran for nearly six years says she was forced by Iranian officials to sign a false confession to espionage before being released two months ago.
Nazanin Zagari-Ratcliffe said British government officials were present at Tehran airport when she “under duress” signed a false confession to espionage. She said Iranian officials had told her “you will not be able to board the plane” unless she signs.
“The whole thing about signing the forced confession was filmed,” Zagari-Ratcliffe told the BBC in an interview Monday. “It’s a tool. So I’m sure they’ll show it one day.”
Opposition Labor MP Tulip Sidick, who represents London’s Zagari-Ratcliff hometown, said the revelation raised “serious questions” for the British government. She said Foreign Minister Liz Truss “should explain to parliament what she knows about this shocking revelation and what the consequences may be for my constituent.”
Zagari-Ratcliffe was detained at Tehran airport in April 2016 while returning home to Britain after visiting her family in Iran. She worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charity of the news agency, but was on leave at the time of her arrest.
Zagari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to five years in prison after she was convicted of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, a charge she, her supporters and human rights groups have denied. For the past two years, she has been under house arrest at her parents’ home in Tehran.
She and another dual citizen, Anoosheh Ashoori, were released and returned to the UK in March. Their release came after Britain paid a $ 400 million debt ($ 503 million) to Iran, stemming from a dispute over tanks that were ordered in the 1970s but never delivered.
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