UK called to ‘redouble efforts’ to secure release of British dual citizen jailed in Iran

Mehran Raoof says Tehran is using detained dual citizens as ‘a valuable commodity’ to get ‘large sums of money’

Mehran Raoof has been held at Evin prison in Tehran since October 2020. Photo: Raoof family / Alamy

Amnesty International has called on the UK government to “redouble its efforts” to secure the release of British-Iranian citizen Mehran Raoof, after he sent a letter from Evin prison in Iran denouncing the country's legal system and its treatment of people with dual citizenship.

Mr Ra0of, 66, a British-Iranian labour rights activist, has been arbitrarily detained in Iran since his arrest by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on October 16, 2020.

In August 2021, Mr Raoof — along with German-Iranian citizen Nahid Taghavi — was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in jail on national security-related charges after a trial that has been characterised as grossly unfair.

Amnesty considers him a prisoner of conscience who should be released immediately and unconditionally.

In his letter from Evin prison, which has been published by the Human Rights Activist News Agency, Mr Raoof says Iranian law enforcement is “subject to the interpretations and whims of those in power”, and that dual-citizen prisoners are used as “a valuable commodity” by authorities in their dealings with other countries.

Mr Raoof says people in Iran are being criminalised for their thoughts or peaceful activities, arbitrarily arrested, and taken to “special detention centre[s]” run by the Ministry of Intelligence or IRGC.

At these centres, they are held in “a solitary cell designed for ill treatment” and interrogated blindfolded or “facing the wall”, or in special rooms with “smoked glass where the accused cannot see the interrogators”.

Of his own arrest, Mr Raoof says that, contrary to Iran’s own laws, he was denied access to a lawyer for eight months, and for several months his family and relatives were “completely unaware” of his fate or whereabouts.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori released — in pictures

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe reunited with her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, and their daughter, Gabriella, after being held for six years in Iran. Photo: @TulipSiddiq via Twitter

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, centre, with their families. Photo: @lilika49 via Twitter

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her daughter at RAF Brize Norton airbase. EPA

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her daughter Gabriella, husband Richard and British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss at RAF Brize Norton. EPA

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori were released in March 2022. Reuters

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori with the cabin crew in Brize Norton. Reuters

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori as their plane flies over London. Reuters

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe sits in a plane en route to London after taking off from Teheran. Reuters

Mr Ashoori gestures as he sits in the plane heading to London. Reuters

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in Tehran in April 2016 as she prepared to fly back to the UK, having taken her daughter Gabriella to see relatives. AFP

She was accused of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government and sentenced to five years in jail, spending four years in Tehran’s Evin Prison and one under house arrest. Photo: Tulip Siddiq / Twitter

Richard Ratcliffe with daughter Gabriella outside their house in London on Wednesday. AFP

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori arrive in Oman en route to the UK. Photo: @badralbusaidi / Twitter

Mr Ratcliffe went on a hunger strike in October 2021 in protest at the UK government’s failure to secure his wife's release. AFP

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe boards a plane as she prepares to leave Tehran. Reuters

Mr Ratcliffe told the media that the family plan to find solace elsewhere for a few days. Reuters

Gabriella was not yet two when her mother was arrested. Photo: Tulip Siddiq / Twitter

He goes on to say that the Iranian government is “trying to get large sums of money for the exchange of dual nationals”.

In the letter, Mr Raoof also expresses frustration at what he says is a decision by Iranian authorities to exclude him and other dual citizens from an early-release programme.

“The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has said that Nahid’s detention is arbitrary,” said Mariam Claren, daughter of Mr Taghavi.

“Nahid and Mehran should not be in prison and I want to see concerted and co-ordinated action from the German and UK governments to press for their release.

“My mother is in poor health and his detention is having a devastating impact on her and our family.”

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe speaks for first time since release from Iran — video

“This powerful and distressing letter is yet another reminder to the UK government that it needs to redouble its efforts to secure the release of Mehran, Morad Tahbaz and other UK nationals arbitrarily detained overseas,” said Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive.

“For years, it’s been clear that the Iranian authorities have been arbitrarily detaining British nationals — along with people from the USA, Germany and elsewhere — and using them as diplomatic pawns.

“To know, as Mehran does, that dual nationals are being used as a ‘commodity’ by the Iranian authorities will be a shattering realisation and we need the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] to genuinely push for his and Morad’s release at every opportunity.”

This British-Iranian dual citizen was detained in Iran for nearly five years — video

“Being a trade unionist should not be a crime, and Mehran should never have been detained let alone sentenced for ten-plus years for peacefully advocating for workers’ rights in Iran,” said Jeremy Corbyn, Mr Raoof’s MP.

“Just last week, the Foreign Affairs Committee published its report ‘Stolen years: combating state hostage diplomacy’, which refers to Mehran and Morad Tahbaz as two British nationals who’ve been left behind in Iran.

“Mehran is approaching the one-third point of his sentence and is now eligible for release — here is an important opportunity for the UK to take long-overdue action on Mehran’s case and press for his immediate release.”