UK Intervention Not to Accelerate Zaghari’s Release: Iran Envoy

Urging UK officials not to increase sensitivity about the case, Hamid Baeidinejad, who was speaking to IRNA after he was summoned to the British Foreign Ministry over the case, said the UK’s interference in Iran’s internal affairs is unacceptable.

“Intervention by a country that Ms [Nazanin] Zaghari has been spying for is interference in Iran’s internal affairs,” he added.

“Such interference will not only not facilitate her release, but will increase negative sensitivity of the Iranian people and authorities towards the UK government’s policy,” he underlined.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe is serving a five-year jail sentence in Iran on charge of covert propaganda efforts against the Islamic Republic.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who claimed to be a charity worker affiliated with the London-based charity Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in April 2016 just before taking the flight out of Iran.

Zaghari Enjoys Medical Care

On Monday, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt summoned the Iranian ambassador to demand the dual national was given proper medical help.

The meeting came after Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, claimed his wife had begun a three-day hunger strike.

In response, Baeidinejad said Zaghari-Ratcliffe has access to medical facilities.

“Ms. Zaghari, as an Iranian national, has her rights in the prison and enjoys medical care,” he stressed.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case drew considerable attention after former British foreign secretary Boris Johnson said in 2017 that she was training journalists in Iran, contradicting claim by the foundation that she was simply on holiday visiting relatives.