LONDON (AP) — Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe said Monday that memories of her daughter helped sustain her through almost six years of captivity in Iran as she appealed for the release of fellow hostage Morad Tahbaz, who was left out of the deal that brought her home.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was released last week after the U.K. settled a decades-old debt to Iran, said she was grateful to be free but her journey wouldn’t be complete until Tahbaz and others are returned home, too.
“I believe that the meaning of freedom is never going to be complete as to such time that all of us who are unjustly detained in Iran are reunited with our families,’’ Zaghari-Ratcliffe said at a news conference that included Tahbaz’s daughter.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori were released Wednesday amid efforts by Britain, the U.S. and other countries to secure the freedom of dozens of dual nationals detained by Iran, which doesn’t recognize their right to hold citizenship in another country. Family members and human rights activists accuse Iran of arresting the dual nationals on trumped up charges to squeeze concessions out of Western nations.
The breakthrough came as world leaders try to negotiate the return of both Iran and the U.S. to an international agreement limiting Tehran’s nuclear enrichment program — talks that have been complicated by the prisoner issue. Negotiators have edged closer to a road map for restoring the accord, though recent Russian demands slowed progress.
At the time Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori were freed, the British government said it had also negotiated Tahbaz’s release on furlough, though he would remain in Iran while additional details were worked out. Tahbaz’s case is complicated by the fact that he holds U.S citizenship, as well as British and Iranian nationality.
His attorney in Iran, Hojjat Kermani, said Monday that Tahbaz was never released on furlough. Instead, he was only allowed to see his family in Tehran for 48 hours under the supervision of armed guards, then was returned to custody.
In another twist, Tahbaz was taken to a hotel on Sunday but then returned to Evin Prison on Monday.
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Isabel DeBre contributed to this report from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
