Thank you for contacting me about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Like you, I want to see her and indeed all other dual nationals detained, released immediately.
I can assure you that the Foreign Office continues to work hard to assist British nationals detained in Iran, and engages with the families of those detained on a regular basis. Support is available to them 24 hours a day seven days a week. I know this issue is a top priority for the Foreign Secretary.
It is unacceptable that Iran chose to continue with a second, wholly arbitrary, case against Nazanin. British Embassy staff in Tehran requested access to Nazanin's court hearing, as they have done for previous hearings, as part of their ongoing efforts to secure her release. Iran routinely denies the UK access to Nazanin because they do not recognise her as a dual British national and view her as solely Iranian. I condemn the inhumane and wholly unjustified decision by the Iranian authorities to sentence Nazanin to another year in prison.
Nazanin lost her latest appeal and the above sentence has been upheld with no court hearing. Iran's decision to proceed with these baseless charges is an appalling act of cruelty. As the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has argued, instead of threatening to return Nazanin to prison Iran must release her permanently so she can return home.
I have immense sympathy for Nazanin, Richard and their young daughter, and can only imagine how difficult Nazanin's unjust and ongoing detention is for them as a family.
Please be assured that HM Government is using every tool in its diplomatic arsenal to secure the immediate and permanent release of arbitrarily detained dual British nationals in Iran. Specific cases, such as Nazanin's, continue to be raised with the Iranian authorities at every possible level, including the most senior. The UK calls on Iran to rectify its dire human rights record, live up to its responsibilities under international human rights law and the Vienna Convention and release dual nationals.
In addition, Liz Truss spoke to her Iranian counterpart on Monday 8 November, raising Nazanin's case and indeed that of all British nationals unfairly detained in Iran. Foreign Office officials met with the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister on 11 November, including to press firmly for the immediate release of unfairly detained British nationals.
With regard to the debate itself, I didn't attend, largely because I’m very aware that there are a lot of MPs who wish to speak in the debate, and all of them have a much closer connection either to the family or to the case than I do and I wouldn’t want to take up the time of others who can rightly make more substantive contributions than I would be able to. There was a similar situation earlier in the year during a debate on baby loss, where constituents asked me to speak but there was a huge amount of personal experience from other MPs that for me to speak on such an important subject in more general terms would have devalued such an important debate.
I have however written directly to the Foreign Secretary and you can find a copy of my letter here: https://www.facebook.com/Robfordelyn/posts/667014131369802