Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe speaks of 'cruel' detention in Iran
The British-Iranian flew back to the UK last week after six years in jail
Last updated 29th May 2022
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has spoken publicly for the first time about her experiences in living in Iran over six years.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday (March 21st), Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe spoke of the "cruel" experiences she felt after being detained by Iranian authorities.
At the press conference, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was joined by her husband Richard and child Gabriella, alongside her local MP Tulip Siddiq.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe thanked everyone who had been involved in negotiating her return, as well as her friends in Iran - who had kept her spirits up.
When asked about how her experiences affected her, she said that what she went through "will always haunt me", saying "it is difficult to relive all the things that I went through".
She also felt she had been "left behind" by the UK authorities as time went on, believing that her hopes had been dashed throughout her time behind bars. She also said that faith had kept her going in tough times.
The 43-year-old mother was held in Iran on espionage charges after travelling to Iran in 2016. She was only released on March 16th following the payment of a £400 million debt the UK owed to the Middle Eastern country.
Speaking about the flight home, Zaghari-Ratcliffe called the journey "tough", saying that she could not believe what had happened. She noted that she almost didn't trust the government response, as she had been in jail throughout the tenure of five separate UK Foreign Secretaries.
"The worst part of this whole thing is that my life has always been linked to a story that had nothing to do with me," she said.
"It should not have happened. I should not have been in prison for six years."
She also said she was "overwhelmed" when she walked down the steps of the airplane that landed at RAF Brize Norton on Wednesday night.
When asked about if she felt angry about the delay in getting her home, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she just "couldn't be happier".
"I'm not going to live with a grudge with what happened to me. It was cruel, but it this is a glorious moment for me," she said.
"I was the lucky one who got to be recognised internationally, but there are so many others that we don't know about who are in prison. Everyone deserves the right to be free."
When asked about the possibility of going back to Iran in the future, she said she would "need to be very cautious about thinking of returning. Not for a while anyway."
Nazanin's husband Richard, who had been campaigning to bring his wife home, said it was "nice to be retired" from the constant struggle.
He also added that he was "immensely pleased and proud" to have Nazanin back in the UK, saying that now they could "be a family again and start a new chapter" in their lives.
Paying tribute to the family, Ms Siddiq MP said that Nazanin was filled with "immense strength", before saying that she had written to the government to ask questions about why it had taken so long to free the mother.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was one of two British-Iranians who were allowed to return to the UK - the other being Anoosheh Ashoori. A third, Morad Tahbaz, is currently remaining in Iran and is unable to return to the UK.
In the press conference, the Zaghari-Ratcliffe family was joined by Mr Tahbaz's eldest daughter Roxanne, asking the UK Government to help release her father, who had been returned to prison.
Hear the latest news on Downtown on FM, DAB, smart speaker or the Rayo app.