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Really wonderful news and news that will surely lift the spirits of this country at least. For ANY politician to try to make political gain from this event is totally unacceptable.
I have read that the United States mucky involvement contributed to the delay in her (that should be their, of course, I shouldn’t forget the others who were also released after detention for several years) release.
Tulip deserves a lot of credit for this, especially for the support she has giver Nazanin’s family. First time in a long time that I was shedding tears of joy. Mike shouted upstairs to me yesterday morning that she’d been released and he was in tears too. Maybe, just maybe, this might be a turning point and that the world might start to heal itself.
Suits everyone concerned.
Iran needs some good PR, needing to sell its uranium and oil.
Europe wants the oil to replace Russian oil.
Britain pays its debts to Iran at a time where dealing with the country is (due to Russia) more acceptable.Hope Iran can come in from the cold and this can lead to better relations.
That Iran can put its nuclear plans at least on hold if not in the bin. If so restrictions can hopefully in turn be lifted.Value Is EverythingI realise The Guardian and its readers are spoken of with derision by some on here but I thought this piece might be of interest to some:
The politics sketch
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe shows her strength, and a sliver of ice-cold anger
John Crace
John Crace
For six years she was a silent figure, but her voice was finally heard at a Westminster press conferenceNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe speaks next to her husband Richard Ratcliffe.
‘She wasn’t going to emote for the hell of it. She wasn’t a performing seal’ … Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe speaks alongside her husband, Richard Ratcliffe. Photograph: Reuters
Mon 21 Mar 2022 19.15 GMT
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It was standing room only in the Macmillan room of Portcullis House. The first press conference to be given by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe since her release from detention in Iran was not something to be missed. For six years, Nazanin had been a silent figure in a continuing political drama. Now we were to get a voice to put to a name and photograph. She was to be even more impressive than any of us had imagined.First, though, it was Tulip Siddiq, Nazanin and her husband’s local MP, who took centre stage. Having paid tribute to her constituents, she cut to the chase. Given it had taken the repayment of an acknowledged debt to secure Nazanin’s release, what had taken the UK government so long? And why had we detained three Iranians who had come to London in 2013 to negotiate the terms of the repayment? Surely that had only encouraged Iran to think taking hostages was the only way to get its money back.
Nazanin’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, just sounded pleased to be taking a back seat at last. The six years seem to have taken a harsher physical toll on him than they have on his wife. He’s aged noticeably. His hair’s greyer and thinner, his face more lined and his wife joked about him having put on weight after a hunger strike. Meanwhile, Nazanin looks little changed from the grainy images of her arrest at Tehran airport in 2016. Her scars are all on the inside and are not on the table for public consumption.
“It’s nice to be retiring from campaigning,” he said, holding on to his wife’s hand. For his own support, rather than hers. Tabloid portrayals of Nazanin as some powerless victim caught up in a story of global realpolitik have proved well wide of the mark. She’s a strong, powerful independent woman. Someone who knows her own mind and lives life on her own terms. You can mess with her, but you can’t break her.
Richard went on to say he had spent much of the past six years in a state of waiting. Now he was going to have to get used to being. He ended by saying he was in awe of his wife. As were we all.
Nazanin – dressed in the yellow and blue of Ukraine – began by thanking her family, both in the UK and Iran, before going on to say that her freedom would never be total until other detainees – such as Morad Tahbaz, whose eldest daughter, Roxanne, was also at the presser – were also released. Despite having promised to release Morad on furlough, the Iranians had already put him back in prison. One person’s illegal detention diminishes us all. It was an expression of humanity and selflessness.
Then she let rip. A very controlled fury. Icy, almost steely. We had been warned Nazanin wouldn’t be making any overtly political remarks and that any such statements would be left to Richard and Siddiq. Only no one appeared to have told Nazanin. She wasn’t going to settle for anything cosy and heart-warming. It wasn’t her job to make the rest of the country feel better about itself.
So while she loved her husband to bits, she couldn’t go along with his expressions of thanks to the government. How many foreign secretaries had it taken to get her home? It had taken five when it should have been just the one. She should have been home six years ago. Her daughter had been two when she was detained. Now she was nearly eight. No one could give her back the years that had been lost.
But that was as much as Nazanin was prepared to let the media see of her true feelings. The rest was for her and her family alone. She wasn’t going to emote for the hell of it. She wasn’t a performing seal. She was a woman with her integrity and sanity to maintain. Nazanin had spent six years practising how to compartmentalise her emotions and she wasn’t about to stop now. So she declined to answer how she had coped in her darkest hours. Or what her true feelings for her captors had been.
Instead, she played it straight. There had been times of despair. Many times she had been led to think her release was imminent only to be let down. So she had learned not to trust anyone or anything. It was only when she was on the plane out of Iran that she allowed herself to believe she would be reunited with her family.
And no, she was not going to let herself hold a grudge. She should never have been detained but she couldn’t let that destroy her efforts to rebuild a family life. To enjoy the little things, like brushing her daughter Gabriella’s hair. “I have tried to leave the black hole in my heart on the plane,” she said.
As for Boris Johnson, whose careless words had made her situation incomparably worse, she had never given him the satisfaction of letting him see how much damage he had done. She had known she was powerless in prison so gave little thought to politics. And when she only had 40 minutes with Gabriella, she wanted to spend the time on colouring and reading stories. Not giving in to her contempt for someone who never really gave her a second thought. Not many could show such grace under fire.
With that, the press conference ended and Nazanin, Richard and Gabriella made their way out the room. After living out of a suitcase for the best part of a week, they were finally going home together for the first time in years. To get to know each other properly once more.
Meanwhile, back at the foreign affairs select committee, Philip Barton, permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, was being questioned about the discrepancy between his testimony and that of a whistleblower who had said that the prime minister had prioritised the evacuation of Pen Farthing and His Pets from Afghanistan over Afghan interpreters. Nazanin might ruefully have concluded that she would have been better off being a cockapoo. That way she might have caught the Suspect’s attention and been home years ago.
I’m in the middle with the views on this but not one word of criticism of her captors
Even given that she may not feel like expressing that herself at the moment (perhaps understandable) maybe the guardian could actually reference it?
An arsonist sets fire to a building and the fire brigade are a little slow. It’s the fire brigades fault. Not the arsonists
And people wonder why there’s derision for that paper
Clive, you are a hard man to please.
I have read, it may be true, or not, that Mrs. Ratcliffe detention was Iran’s reaction to the way their ‘envoys’ to London were treated. Not sure I can fit that into your “arsonist” scenario.
What impressed me about the article was the way she handled the press conference. As Mr. Crace says there are a lot our politicians (of all colour) who need to aspire to her communication skills.
I’m a Guardian reader, you don’t like the way Guardian readers think – I can live with that.
Stay safe.
Colin
How exactly were the “envoys treated” that justified taking a hostage for six years?
Someone forgot to put sugar in their tea?I didn’t have a great problem with what she said but Trump has great communication skills too remember
I dont ignore the Guardian and do take the Observer (cant get on with the Sunday times apart from Culture section) but in obsessively hating the government, it often appears to simply lose the overall picture
I used to work with a guy from Iran, lovely chap, very hard working and always wanting to better himself but found it hard to get the same opportunities as others from this country.
Completely unrelated but that’s the only experience I have with anything Iranian.
Actually come to think of it I have another mate who’s called Oran, he’s not Iranian, but he is also a lovely chap.
Having seen some of the vitriol on social media I came on here hoping that there wouldn’t be any comments about her lack of criticism for Iran and how she should be grateful to people like Johnson whose stupid comments resulted in her being incarcerated for even longer.
I’m glad that she is back, any mother missing her daughter growing up
between the ages of 2 and 8 is missing a crucial time in their development.
I agree with Moe that Boris didn’t help with his comments which completely
were at odds with what she and her lawyers were telling the Iran authorities
were her reason for being thereThe envoys may have played a part, but there was also the small matter of
£400 million that the UK has been owing Iran for some time now, the
Iraqis having paid the £400 million for tanks that were ordered from the
UK but never appeared. I think we would have been a bit miffed too if the
boot had been on the other foot.I have to agree with Colin, I think the arsonist analagy doesn’t quite fit,
It’s not a case of the fire service beeing a little slow getting there to
put the fire out, it’s more like they had a full breakfast, a game of cards
and a visit to the cinema before attending to put the fire out. It should never
have taken 5 Foreign Secretarys to come to some arrangement to get her out,
like perhaps offering them the £400 mill that they were due. That at least
might have got their attention earlier as it did when eventually offered.The Guardian did at least mention that she had stated she was trying to keep
the reminders of that “black hole” out of her head, referring to the prison
and the time in Iran, I dare say more of the story will emerge when she is ready.Lots of support for hostage taking here it appears.
So if a third world country defaults on a loan to the uk (happens all the time) ok for boris to round up their uk based citizens and jail them as collateral ?
That has to be answered.
Moe. Did you really think her lack of any criticism of her hostage takers would go unnoticed. And yes the arsonist argument is spot on. Someone’s house is burnt down by an arsonist and all they do is blame the fire brigade ? A bit weird maybe ???
No one is saying that the government has got this entirely right but to be apologists for irans actions is incredible
a bit pathetic…
But I repeat the question. Is the uk entitled to take hostages for “debt”
Won’t hold my breath …
“Lots of support for hostage taking here it appears.
So if a third world country defaults on a loan to the uk (happens all the time) ok for boris to round up their uk based citizens and jail them as collateral ?”
That’s the spirit Clive
Straightforward question bigg. People
Can’t stump up the “debt” as justification without answering thatI’ll leave it there.
Clive can you expect a serious answer when you are saying that “lots of
support for hostage taking in here”Do you actually think that any person who has posted on this thread supports
hostage taking, seriously?All that I’ve said, others are more than capable of speaking for themselves,
is that this situation could and should have been brought to a successful
conclusion far before the 6 years that it took. That’s what our government
is supposed to be able to achieve, regardless of who they are dealing with.
Nothing to do with support for taking hostages.For one thing, Nazanin’s family are in Iran so she has to protect them and be careful what she says. Unlike the PM she engages her brain before she opens her mouth. Also, if she is too vocal about condemning the Iranian government at this moment in time won’t they just use it as justification for imprisoning her in the first place? ie she was a political activist. And, as she has pointed out ((yes, even now thinking of others) there are still people imprisoned in Iran that need to be freed. Let no one underestimate the anger of a mother that has unjustifiably been separated from her child.
envoys may have played a part, but there was also the small matter of
£400 million that the UK has been owing Iran for some time now, the
Iraqis having paid the £400 million for tanks that were ordered from the
UK but never appeared. I think we would have been a bit miffed too if the
boot had been on the other foot.Again I ask. Are we justified in being “miffed” and rounding up hostages when a third world state defaults on debt?
The trouble is that so many on the left are completely obsessed with “the tories” that the moral compass is completely lost
I don’t know what’s difficult about this. Boris rounds up and jails 50 Nigerians because of government debt default. The Nigerians take six years to pay and of course the guardian lays into the Nigerians for taking so long without a single word about boris,s actions. As if
See how ridiculous that sounds
And people wonder about “derision”
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