Nazanin-Zaghari Ratcliffe’s daughter sleeps between mum and dad for first time in six years
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has shared her first family selfie since her dramatic return to the UK after six years of ‘hell’ being detained in Iran.
The freed mum-of-one was pictured beaming with her husband Richard and seven-year-old daughter Gabriella after an emotional reunion last night.
The moving image was shared by the family’s local MP Tulip Siddiq, who revealed Nazanin has used her first day back in the UK to raise the plight of another dual national stuck in Iran.
Saddiq wrote: ‘So lovely to have uplifting conversations with Richard and Nazanin today.
‘They are both relentless in their pursuit of justice and raised the plight of Morad Tahbaz with me.
‘Here I was hoping to sleep for a week… Here’s their first family selfie!’
Nazanin, 43 was captured and detained in Tehran in March 2016 after taking Gabriella, who was not even two, on holiday to visit her parents.
The British-Iranian charity worker was accused of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government – charges which she has always denied.
Many claimed she was being used as a political pawn over a long outstanding £400m debt Britain owed to Iran.
After years of trying to secure her release, it was announced yesterday that Nazanin and fellow British-Iranian detainee, Anoosheh Ashoori, would be returning to the UK.
A third British-Iranian national, Morad Tahbaz, was released on furlough and remains in Iran.
MORE : ‘Is that mummy?’: After six lost years, how Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe got her family back
MORE : Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Timeline from arrest in Iran to release six years later
Foreign Office Minister James Cleverly said the government was working to secure the return of Mr Tahbaz, telling BBC Breakfast: ‘He also has American nationality, which has in the eyes of the Iranians – not in ours – made his case more complicated.’
Nazanin and Anoosheh touched down at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire just after 1am and walked off the plane together.
They spent an hour behind closed doors talking with and hugging loved ones before being transported to government accommodation.
In a moving video, Nazanin can be heard sobbing as she embraces her daughter, who can be heard joyfully shouting ‘mummy!’.
That night, Gabriella was finally able to sleep in between her parents for the first time since they were forced apart exactly six years ago.
Siddiq, who has been posting updates on behalf of the family, tweeted earlier: ‘Richard sounds so happy this morning.
‘He laughingly told me that Gabriella slept in between him and Nazanin last night for the first time in six years.’
The Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn previously revealed how Gabby had asked if her father Richard was ‘pulling her leg’ about her mother coming home.
‘My heart just broke,’ she said, adding that when she told her she was, Gabriella started playing the piano and singing.
The North London MP also told how the family plan to isolate for a few weeks before they ‘eventually come out into the real world’.
Nazanin’s husband Richard Ratcliffe has campaigned tirelessly for his partner’s freedom over the years – including staging a hunger strike outside the Foreign Office that lasted 21 days.
He said yesterday that the first thing on their agenda would be some ‘peace and quiet’ and a cup of tea.
But he said eventually questions would have to be asked about why it took so long to free his wife and what lessons could be learned.
While Nazanin has been in jail the country has seen three prime ministers and five foreign secretaries.
After her initial detention in 2016, Nazanin was sentenced to a further year in prison in April last year and a one-year travel ban on charges of propaganda against the government.
Meanwhile Mr Ashoori, a retired civil engineer, was detained in 2017 on spying charges while in Iran visiting his mother, and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Both vigorously denied all charges.
Their release came after Britain paid £393.8m to settle a debt related to a tank order placed by Iran in the late 1970s. However, the government have insisted it is not linked.
One charity worker with experience of hostages has warned there is usually a ‘long journey’ back to normality following release.
Lara Symons, 53, chief executive of charity Hostage International, said the organisation had helped many ‘trauma hostages’. She said: ‘From that experience, we’ve learnt that this is a new journey. This is a long journey.
‘I think when people think about normal life, they think about the life that they led before and, sadly, to some extent, that is not possible.
‘You can’t go back to that because both you as a hostage and your family have been changed quite a lot by the experience.’
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