British-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe sentenced to one year in prison
Project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in 2016 in Tehran.
AP - Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
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British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, prosecuted for "propaganda" against the Islamic Republic, was sentenced Monday to one year in prison and one year banned from leaving Iran after her release, AFP learned with his lawyer.
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The sentence “
was announced today and (my client) was sentenced to one year in prison and a one-year ban on leaving the country,
” said Hojjat Kermani, adding that the verdict was “
still preliminary
”.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 42,
appeared in a court
in Tehran
in March
for "
participating in a rally outside the Iranian embassy in London in 2009,
" according to her lawyer.
"
The verdict is still preliminary and we are appealing within the legal deadline of 20 days from today,
" he said.
Project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the news agency of the same name, she was arrested in 2016 in Tehran.
Accused of plotting to overthrow the Islamic Republic, which she fiercely denies, she was sentenced to five years in prison.
She completed her sentence under house arrest on March 7.
"
According to Iranian law, the additional penalty (prohibition to leave the country) will be imposed after the end of imprisonment
", explained Mr. Kermani, hoping that his client would be "
acquitted on appeal
".
London intends to "work very hard" to obtain his release
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson denounced the new conviction earlier on Monday.
"
I think it is not normal at all that Nazanin is sentenced to an additional prison sentence
", declared the head of the Conservative government, assuring that London intended "to
work very hard
" to obtain his release.
Tehran, which does not recognize dual citizenship, has consistently denied the UK consular access to Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe while she was in prison.
This affair is fueling tensions between London and Tehran.
The British NGO Redress ruled in a report in mid-March that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe suffered from severe post-traumatic stress after suffering "
ill-treatment
" and that she should therefore be recognized by London as "a
victim of torture.
".
Iranian authorities have always denied that she was mistreated.
(With
AFP
)
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