Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is on her way back to Britain today after nearly six years of incarceration in Iran, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has confirmed, as reported by BBC News.
The decision was made after UK officials settled a long-standing £400 million debt to Tehran.
The British-Iranian aid worker, who had been employed as a project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at a Tehran airport in April 2016 as she prepared to board a flight back to the UK.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe will now soon be reunited with her six-year-old daughter Gabriella and her husband Richard Ratcliffe, who spent years campaigning for her release.
Richard Ratcliffe said he was "deeply grateful" for her release and that he and their daughter were "looking forward to a new life".
In 2016, Zaghari-Ratcliffe took her then-one-year-old daughter to see relatives in Iran.
She was later found guilty of plotting to overthrow Iran's government. She continues to deny the charges.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in prison for five years before being held under house arrest at her parents' home in Tehran as a result of the Covid pandemic.
Today, she was handed over to a British team at the International Imam Khomeini Airport.
Tulip Siddiq, Labour's MP for Hampstead and Kilburn who campaigned for her constituent's freedom, tweeted a picture of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and wrote: "It's been 6 long years - and I can't believe I can FINALLY share this photo. Nazanin is now in the air flying away from 6 years of hell in Iran.
"My heart goes out to Gabriella and Richard, as her long journey back home to them gets closer by the minute."
In another tweet, she wrote: "Thank you all ever so much for such kind messages about my constituent Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. It’s so heartwarming to see the affection for her. Her husband Richard and I met earlier today for yet another strategy meeting… hopefully not many more!!"
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tweeted today: "I can confirm Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori will return to the UK today, and Morad Tahbaz has been released from prison on furlough. They will be reunited with their families later today. We will continue to work to secure Morad's departure from Iran."
