UK lawyer urges Iran to release aid worker Zaghari-Ratcliffe

A UK lawyer has written two open letters, one to the Iranian people and one to Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, calling for the release of aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

In the letters published Monday, Jessica Learmond-Criqui says she also lived in the same neighbourhood as Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British and Iranian dual citizen who was sentenced to five years in prison by an Iranian court on charges of spying on Sept 10.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe denies the allegations, saying she had gone to Iran in March, 2016 on holiday. She was arrested on Apr 3 of that year as she was boarding a flight bound for the UK with her daughter Gabriella.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was a project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a charity organisation that operates independently of newswire service Reuters News.

“The reason for writing is to appeal to you, and your great influence, in assisting with the release of Nazanin as a gesture of humanity and empathy to all mankind on, before or around Shab-e Challeh,” Learmond-Criqui wrote in her open letter to Khamenei.

“As Iran’s Supreme Leader, it would be a significant and positive gift to arrange for her release at this special and meaningful time. On Shab-e Chelleh Nazanin will have spent 634 days in Evin prison away from her husband and small daughter.”

Shab-e Chelleh, or Yalda night, is an Iranian festival celebrated on the ‘longest and darkest night of the year’, the winter solstice, on Dec 20, 21 or 22.

“This is an important and auspicious time of year when being in the bosom of one’s family is celebrated and cherished,” Learmond-Criqui wrote in her letter to the Iranian people.

“Nazanin may not be able to share in the delights of Shab-e Chelleh given her current detention … Her daughter, Gabriella, is now three years old and has been bereft of her human right to the constant love, presence and comfort of her mother at a time when she needs her most.”

“Her husband Richard has been without her companionship and consortium for many months and has been denied a visa to come to Iran so that he could visit her.”

The lawyer implored the Iranian people to think about Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s situation, pray for her and her loved ones, and call on their political and spiritual leaders to secure her release.