Brit Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe locked up in Iran on spying charges ‘faces SIXTEEN years added to her five-year sentence’
The mum has been hauled back in front of a court just weeks before she was eligible to be released and reunited with her three-year-old daughter
A BRIT mum locked up in Iran on spying charges has been hauled back to court just weeks before she was eligible to be released and reunited with her three-year-old daughter.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 38, cried throughout court proceedings that saw her confronted with two new charges that could see 16 years added to her five year sentence.
The devastating news also saw a planned weekend release, that would have seen the charity worker visit family, blocked just days before it was due to take place.
Nazanin was arrested in Tehran on April 3 2016 and accused of plotting to topple the regime.
She was stopped from returning to Britain after visiting family with her daughter Gabriella and thrown into prison, where she spent months in solitary confinement.
Her husband Richard Ratcliffe said she nearly passed out when taken to court on Sunday unable to believe the latest "heavy blow".
Speaking through her husband Nazanin said: “Going there to that court, seeing them, and answering the same old questions made me have a heart attack.
"I nearly passed out. I haven’t physically recovered yet. My legs are still numb. My heartbeat still high.
“I have always been honest with them about what I have done and who I worked for.
"I was not trying to overthrow the regime. I love my country. It is ridiculous. I have not done anything since I was sentenced."
The new charges brought by the Revolutionary Guard accuse of her being a member of organisations plotting to overthrow the regime and joining demonstrations at the Iranian embassy in London.
They are understood to relate to her work for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency, and previously the BBC in London.
She was not allowed legal representation at Sunday's hearing and her family have had to pay a £6,000 bail to prevent her being returned to solitary confinement in the lead up to her trial.
Her husband Richard, of Hampstead, North West London, said: "I have told Nazanin that these are just games by the IRGC – games that look more and more desperate games – inventing new charges to prevent her early release does not make them look intimidating. It makes them look foolish.
“It also brings the integrity of the Iranian legal system into question – as the IRGC play their games with my family’s lives, look to extract more privileges from the Iranian and UK governments.
"They are treating their justice system like a bazaar – making up stories to get a higher price. They are bringing their country to shame.
“The Iranian Ambassador and the UK government need to stand up, and say they will protect British Iranians."
Monique Villa, the CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, called Nazanin's treatment at the hands of Iran "harrowing" and demanded that "these ludicrous charges must be dropped immediately."
The couple's daughter Gabriella is being cared for in Tehran by her grandparents after the tot's passport was confiscated.
The campaign to free Nazanin is holding an event with Amnesty at Parliament Square on Wednesday morning.
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