Zaghari-Ratcliffe was freed last week after the British government agreed to pay a historic debt owed to Iran,worth £400 million ($713 million),relating to an order for military tanks which were never delivered because of sanctions imposed on trading with the country after the revolution. Two other prisoners were part of the deal:Anoosheh Ashoori returned to Britain with Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Morad Tahbaz was released on furlough,but his daughter said he has since been detained.
“We’ve only just found out,before we started this afternoon,that he’s been returned to the prison,” his daughter Roxanne told the news conference at the British Parliament,alongside Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
Morad is an Iranian-American environmentalist who also holds British citizenship.
The British government said Iran would be limited to purchasing humanitarian goods with the repaid funds,but it would not provide details on how that would be independently monitored or enforced.
Loading
Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she was “very grateful” to everyone who had used their voice to get her home but she said that the deal – struck by new British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss – was made far too late.
“I shouldn’t have been in prison for six years,what’s happened now should have happened six years ago,” she said.