The return of this British-Iranian humanitarian worker to London is welcomed with relief by the British press on Wednesday March 16. His release was obtained at the cost of settling an old debt owed by London to Tehran. The current geopolitical context also weighed in the balance.
The BBC News presenter’s emotion illustrates the magnitude of the news. “I am sorryloose Joanna Gosling, throat knotted. It is important because these are people who have been detained for several years”, she explains, when announcing the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anousheh Ashouri to viewers. Imprisoned by the Tehran regime since 2016 and 2019 respectively, the two British-Iranians were on Wednesday March 16 on their way to the United Kingdom.
“Ms Nazanin Zaghari had been convicted of spying for the British security services”said the spokesman for the judiciary Zabihollah Khodayian, quoted by Hamshahri, Tehran City Hall Daily. Business man “Anousheh Ashouri was sentenced to ten years in prison for espionage”, he added. According to the spokesperson, “grace was granted to him” after he spent almost five years in prison.
A “legitimate” debt
“She comes back home”exults theEvening Standard in one of its edition of the day, crossed out with a photo of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. “Falsely Accused”the Londoner was hostage to an old dispute between London and Tehran over the aborted delivery of 1,500 tanks in the 1970s. “Iran demanded the reimbursement of nearly 393.8 million pounds while ensuring that its detention was not linked to this dispute”specifies the evening newspaper.
A debt finally recognized on Wednesday as “legitimate” and now in the process of being settled, assures the British Foreign Office. “The reimbursement will be made in such a way as to respect the sanctions against the
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