After nearly six years of being detained, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has finally been permitted to leave Iran and reunite with her husband and daughter in the UK.
The British-Iranian’s ordeal – the charity worked was tortured under erroneous charges of being a spy – was brought to an end as the UK government settled a 40-year-old debt owed to the regime in Tehran.
UK diplomacy was praised by Boris Johnson, who had himself as foreign secretary wrongly suggested Nazanin was in Iran training journalists. But many others hailed the indefatigable spirit of the 43-year-old’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe.
The accountant, 47, has fought a tenacious battle to secure her release, despite being caught between often bewildering political forces, while also being separated for years from the couple’s daughter, Gabriella, now 7.
Here are some of the reasons why he has been hailed a hero.
Hunger strike
Richard Ratcliffe’s 21-day hunger strike in Westminster – having exhausted other avenues after five-and-a-half years of campaigning – was the best illustration of his dedication and courage.
In November last year, Ratcliffe ended his protest outside the Foreign Office in central London – sleeping in a tent – having been visited by supporters including Strictly Come Dancing co-host Claudia Winkleman and Labour leader Keir Starmer. Ratcliffe criticised prime minister Johnson for his “telling” absence in talking to him during the protest.
With fears over permanent damage to his health growing, Ratcliffe said he had promised Gabriella he would end the hunger strike, adding their child “needs two parents”. “I didn’t want to go out in an ambulance,” he said. “I want to walk out with my head held high.”
Ignoring advice to stay quiet
While few in the UK will now be unaware of the efforts to free Nazanin, Ratcliffe had to fight to get the public to take notice. In May 2016, he made his first plea via the media after Nazanin had been in solitary confinement for 36 days. Ratcliffe said his family had decided to go public against the advice of the Foreign Office.
Still, the government were saying little. Two months later, Ratcliffe delivered letters to Downing Street for outgoing prime minister David Cameron and his replacement Theresa May on his wife’s 100th day in custody. He said it was “astonishing” no British minister had publicly criticised Tehran.
In March last year, Ratcliffe again resisted Foreign Office orders to stay quiet, this time about publicising apparent plans for her release. He tweeted: “We continue to believe that transparency is the best form of protection from abuse. We have also made clear that the government’s role is to remind the Iranian authorities that Nazanin has the UK’s protection not to act as a messenger for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps mafia tactics and suppression.”
Ratcliffe continues to argue the government’s quiet diplomacy approach is a mistake, and will only make matters worse for the prisoner if there is no sign of high-profile campaigning. “You will suffer more, an absolute iron rule,” he told Sky News.
Separated from family
Gabriella, who had been in Iran with Nazanin, had been living with her grandparents in Tehran since her mother was arrested. It was not until October 2019 – after more than three years living in the Middle East – that father and daughter were re-united.
Ratcliffe admits he was a “rusty” parent and had until then been “just a bloke at the end of the phone”. He explained how he had tried to interact on calls three times a week.
He said: “It’s quite visual. She is not going to waste time on the sound. It needs to be something we can see. Either I watch her doing some dancing or showing her dollies or a dollies’ tea party or feeding stuff across the phone, like an apple.
“Things that you don’t need the language for – games. I think she thinks I’m a kind of imaginary phone friend or play mate.”
On Wednesday, Ratcliffe said he hoped Nazanin’s homecoming would allow them to “become a normal family again”.
Speaking to broadcasters outside their home in London, he said: “The first thing (Nazanin) wanted was for me to make her a cup of tea, so we will do (that).
“I think actually we were looking at the house and it needs a bit of tidying, so there might be a bit of tidying, perhaps directed by mummy when she comes back.”
Lobbying for debt to be paid back
While Nazanin’s release appears now to have hinged on the repayment of the historic debt, the government long dismissed this was the case – despite Ratcliffe telling them otherwise.
“Nazanin’s interrogators told her five or six months into her arrest that they were astonished that this had lasted so long,” Ratcliffe insisted as he feared “we have become a bargaining chip for the Brits” in US attempts to get Iran to return to negotiations over its nuclear programme.
The legal dispute dates back to the 1970s when the then-shah of Iran paid the UK £400 million for 1,500 Chieftain tanks. Britain refused to deliver the tanks to the new Islamic Republic when the shah was toppled in 1979, but kept the cash despite British courts accepting it should be repaid.
Despite current foreign secretary Liz Truss acknowledging the link, foreign office minister James Cleverly told the commons only in March last year that historic debts between the two countries are “unrelated” to Nazanin’s detention.