Iran Asks Britain Not to 'Politicize' Zaghari-Ratcliffe Case
Iran on Monday called on Britain to "avoid politicizing" the case of dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe after London said her appearance in court on new charges was "unacceptable".
The hearing on Sunday dashed hopes of family and supporters for a swift return home of the 42-year-old, in a case that has sharpened diplomatic tensions between the Islamic republic and the United Kingdom.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case "is transparent and depends on the judiciary", Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters in Tehran.
"The best way to help find solutions to such cases is to avoid politicizing them," he added.
"I advise the British government, which has politicized the case in the past, to allow justice to follow its course," Khatibzadeh said.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe's lawyer Hojjat Kermani has said she is now being prosecuted for "propaganda against the system, for having participated in a rally in front of the Iranian embassy in London" in 2009.
The mother-of-one appeared in court on Sunday where she denied all charges, according to the Free Nazanin support campaign.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab dismissed the new case as "arbitrary".
It was "unacceptable that Iran has chosen to continue a second wholly arbitrary case", he said on Sunday.
Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe told AFP in London that Nazanin was being used as a "political bargaining chip".
He was referring to a dispute between Tehran and London concerning a British debt dating back to more than 40 years for military tanks paid for by the deposed shah.
When the shah was ousted in 1979, Britain refused to deliver the tanks to Iran, and London has admitted it owes the Islamic republic several hundred million pounds.
London and Iran have denied any link between the debt and the Zaghari-Ratcliffe case.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained while on holiday in 2016 and convicted of plotting to overthrow the regime in Tehran -- accusations she strenuously denied.
She was working at the time as a project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the media organization's philanthropic wing.
She has been under house arrest in recent months and had her ankle tag removed, giving her more freedom of movement and allowing her to visit relatives in Tehran.
She completed her sentence on March 7.
Source: Agence France Presse
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