British woman temporarily released from jail in Iran
British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
has been temporarily released from prison in Iran, her family has said, the
Independent reported on Thursday.
The 39-year-old was released from jail in Tehran on
a three-day furlough and pictures showed her hugging her daughter Gabriella,
four. The family’s lawyers plan to push for an extension of the release period.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was jailed for five years in 2016
for spying, which she denies.
Her British husband Richard Ratcliffe said his wife
was with family in Damavand. He said: “We are pleasantly surprised and
relieved. We had become quite jaded after so many promises in the past. We last
heard serious talk of her release around Gabriella’s birthday [on] 11 June.”
Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, said the charity
worker’s release was “really good news” but that her imprisonment was a “gross
injustice”.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested by Iran’s
Revolutionary Guard in April 2016 as she prepared to return to London from a
holiday with her daughter to visit relatives.
