Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been temporarily released from prison in Iran as 85,000 prisoners are freed in an attempt to fight #COVID19
She has been freed for two weeks, but must wear an ankle tag as a condition of her release, according to Sky News.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport while travelling to show her young daughter, Gabriella, to her parents in April 2016.
She was sentenced to five years in prison over allegations, which she denies, of plotting to overthrow the Tehran government.
She was later afforded diplomatic protection by the UK Government, which argues that she is innocent and that her treatment by Iran failed to meet obligations under international law.
Tulip Siddiq Labour MP for my home seat of Hampstead and Kilburn Tweeted: Some good news in the darkness of #Coronavirus – my constituent Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been released from prison for two weeks. I’m both pleased and relieved that she’ll be with family rather than in jail at this time of terrible chaos and uncertainty in Iran.#FreeNazanin
Some good news in the darkness of #Coronavirus – my constituent Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been released from prison for two weeks.
— Tulip Siddiq (@TulipSiddiq) March 17, 2020
I’m both pleased and relieved that she’ll be with family rather than in jail at this time of terrible chaos and uncertainty in Iran.#FreeNazanin
Iran frees 85,000 prisoners to combat spread of infection
The number of dead from the illness has reached 853 in the country, where a total of 14,991 people have been confirmed infected.
Iran has temporarily freed about 85,000 prisoners in an effort to combat the spread of coronavirus, a judiciary spokesman in the country has said.
Gholamhossein Esmaili added: “Some 50% of those released are security-related prisoners… also in the jails we have taken precautionary measures to confront the outbreak.”
Political prisoners are among the inmates who have been released in the move.
Javaid Rehman, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, said on 10 March he asked Tehran to temporarily free all political prisoners from its overcrowded and disease-ridden jails.
The request was aimed at helping to stem the spread of coronavirus in the Middle Eastern country.
The number of dead from the coronavirus has reached 853 in Iran, where a total of 14,991 people have been confirmed infected
Iran issued a dire warning on the coronavirus outbreak’s rapid spread, suggesting “millions” could die in the country if the public keeps travelling and ignoring health guidance.
The Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious ruling prohibiting “unnecessary” travel in the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the coronavirus pandemic as the”defining global health crisis of our time”, and urged countries to test all suspected cases of COVID-19.
Globally, the virus has infected almost 180,000 people and killed at least 7,176, according to the WHO. Almost 80,000 people have recovered from the infection, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
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