UK Edition
Britain 'not doing enough' to help its nationals detained in Iran as French-Iranian has charge dropped
The UK has been accused of “not doing everything” possible to free its nationals held in Iran after the country dropped espionage charges against an Iranian-French academic but offered no such clemency against British detainees.
Iranian prosecutors have withdrawn the charge of espionage, which carries the death penalty, against Sciences Po University academic Fariba Adelkhah, according to her lawyer and Paris-based support committee, which said it had received confirmation from the French foreign ministry.
She has been moved out of solitary confinement and is permitted regular family visits.
The announcement came amid simmering tensions with the West in the wake of the death of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike last Friday.
However, there has been no such positive development for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual British and Iranian citizen who was arrested in Tehran in April 2016 and sentenced to five years in jail by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on espionage charges that her family insist are "utter lies.”
Speaking to the Telegraph the charity worker's husband Richard Ratcliffe said: "The French seem to be having some success - despite everything going on. It shows (Foreign Secretary Dominic) Raab that he is evidently not doing everything, despite the briefing.”
He has previously said he believed his wife's release was dependent on the interest on a £450 million debt the UK has owed to Iran since the 1970s for a cancelled arms deal.
Last week he said she would join Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a British-Australian academic, in going on hunger strike.
Ms Adelkhah, an expert on Iran and Shiite Islam, was arrested in Tehran in June last year and went on hunger strike on December 24 after she was refused bail.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, slammed her detention as “intolerable” and called for her release "without delay", prompting Iran to castigate France for "unacceptable interference" in internal affairs.
Mr Ratcliffe said France’s decision to meet with the Iranian ambassador over Christmas appears to have helped and that she may have been picked up for a prisoner swap, as was the case with the British-Australian tourists caught flying a drone last year.
The prosecution also dropped its case against Ms Adelkhah for "disturbing the public order".
She still faces two other charges: spreading "propaganda against the political system" of the Islamic republic; and "conspiracy against national security”, said her lawyer Said Dehghan.
Her Sciences Po colleague Roland Marchal was also arrested last June while visiting Ms Adelkhah and charged with"collusion against national security".
Mr Ratcliffe said: "Last Wednesday evening Fariba was moved out of solitary and joined the women’s ward, which is always a good sign.
"Our understanding is that Roland (Marchal) was also moved out of 2A at the same time. When she came into the ward a few days back she was still on hunger strike.
"She still is on hunger strike - and everyone is getting pretty worried. Only drinking water. And her weight had dropped below 40kg.”
Mr Ratcliffe said she is now in a bad state, which might concern Iran.
"The Iranian authorities will be thinking through their options at this point," he said.
He added: "Our top priority at the moment is just to keep people safe. Which means getting them out of direct IRGC control, Even if only to the public wards. Otherwise Nazanin and the others are going to become for the IRGC human shields."
Sherry Izadi, the wife of a British-Iranian engineer Anoosheh Ashoori - also held in prison in Tehran - has said she fears he no longer stands a “hope in hell” of being released after the US strike on Soleimani.
Mrs Izadi, 56, said the Foreign Office had not been much help in her husband’s case, telling her there was little it could do as Tehran does not recognise dual nationalities.
“It all depends how British government will react to this situation now,” she said. “I’m hoping there will be a rational reaction.”
There are as many as five people with British connections or nationality that are being held in Iran.
Jean-François Bayart, a friend and colleague of Ms Adelkhah and member of a Paris-based support group, welcomed the dropped charges, which he said was confirmed by French diplomats.
He said it was “encouraging” that the court chose not to “harden” its position in light of the US airstrike, instead ruling that “the case against her was empty, as we knew all along”.
But he said he remained “vigilant and prudent” given Iran’s “tough” track record of holding on to dual nationals.