PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe - 25 October 2021 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs to make a statement on my constituent Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

I thank Mr Speaker’s office and you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for granting this urgent question. It is my eighth urgent question on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe since she was detained five harrowing years ago in Iran on false charges.

You may remember, Madam Deputy Speaker, that only two years ago Nazanin’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, was on hunger strike outside the Iranian embassy in solidarity with his wife, who was doing the same in Evin prison in Iran. Today, Richard is on hunger strike on the Foreign Secretary’s doorstep in Whitehall, pleading with her and the Prime Minister to do more to challenge Iran’s hostage-taking and to bring Nazanin home to be reunited with him and their daughter Gabriella. I think all Members across this House will realise that going on hunger strike is the absolute last resort for anyone. Richard has told me that he feels that there is no other option left because our Government’s response to his wife’s case has been pitiful.

Earlier this month, Nazanin was told that the Iranian judiciary had upheld a new one-year prison sentence and a further one-year travel ban that she had been given. This was just the latest escalation from Iran in this five-year ordeal, and yet again we do not feel that it has triggered any robust action from the UK. I know there was hope for a diplomatic solution just before summer, but these false dawns have actually made the situation worse for Nazanin and her husband.

I know that the Minister means well, that he is well versed on this case, and that he has been supportive of my constituent, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and her husband Richard, who has come to the Gallery today to listen to this urgent question. I want to ask the Minister specifically about four asks from Nazanin’s family. Will he acknowledge that Nazanin is a hostage of the Iranian state? Will the Government bring forward Magnitsky sanctions against those involved in this hostage taking and challenge Iran on it in the courts? Will the Government finally fulfil the promise of resolving the £400 million debt that we as a country owe Iran? Will he work to secure a commitment to end hostage taking in negotiations around the Iran nuclear deal?

I urge the Minister, for Nazanin’s sake, for Richard’s sake, for Gabriella’s sake and for the sake of all British citizens imprisoned in Iran or at risk of being taken hostage, to commit to a robust response to Iran and a proper rescue plan for Nazanin.

Can the Minister tell the House roughly how many British dual nationals are being held captive in Iran, and how many of them chose to go there after the ordeal of this poor lady began so many years ago? What advice would he give to any British dual nationals thinking of going to Iran in the future?

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq) on securing this urgent question and on the sterling work she is doing on behalf of her constituent, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Six months ago, my hon. Friend secured a similar debate on the second sentence Nazanin was given by the Iranian authorities. Now, Nazanin has lost her appeal to overturn that spurious conviction and faces the prospect of returning to prison, where we know conditions are very poor. This means she may not see her husband and young daughter until 2023. Yesterday, her husband Richard Ratcliffe began, as we have heard, a hunger strike outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. When I met Richard earlier today, he showed his courage and determination, and he made clear to me that he was taking this action because he has lost faith in the Government’s broken strategy.

After over 2,000 long days, it is surely time for the Government to fundamentally rethink their whole approach to Nazanin’s predicament and the predicament of the other dual nationals who are in a similar position. Last week, in reply to questions from my hon. Friend and me in a Westminster Hall debate, the Minister said that the Government remain absolutely committed to securing the full release of Nazanin and the other imprisoned dual nationals. The new Foreign Secretary has said that she will continue to “press Iran” on the issue.

My question today is straightforward: what precisely is the Government’s strategy for bringing Nazanin and the others home? Words are not enough. It is surely time for the Government to take real and robust action.

I warmly commend the hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq) for securing the urgent question and for her indefatigability in keeping the issue to the fore. We were in a Westminster Hall debate last week where she was notably passionate in her prosecution. For the record, I do not doubt the diligence of the Minister on the subject; I think it has been raised a number of times with the Iranians. Despite all the good intentions and cross-party unity, however, we have not seen progress; arguably, we have seen reversals. What sort of toothless tiger cannot get its nationals back from an overseas regime that has taken them hostage? We need to call a spade a spade.

We have an opportunity for progress with President Raisi coming to COP in Glasgow in a matter of days. Will the UK Government take the opportunity of having him in Scotland to hold talks about the issue? If not, why on earth are we contemplating having the head of a regime that is holding UK nationals hostage on our soil?

I thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for granting the urgent question and I thank the hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq) for doggedly pursuing the issue, both of which say that the House will not give up on Nazanin. I find it disappointing that those of us who have taken an interest in the case could have written what the Minister said, because we hear the same thing over and over again.

I want to push one of the questions that has already been asked. As part of the joint comprehensive plan of action negotiations, is the end to hostage taking one of the things that the Government are going to press? We have to keep pushing at every available avenue and that is clearly on the table and needs to be explored. Can the Minister give us an update on that?

The concern behind the UQ of my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq) today and behind Mr Ratcliffe’s recent hunger strike is that the issue of British prisoners abroad is not really the top priority for the Foreign Office. I ask the Minister to review the correspondence that we have had recently in relation to the case of Luke Symons—it is related in some ways through the Iranian connection—who is incarcerated in Sana’a by the Houthis, and also the correspondence my constituent Bob Cummings has had with his Department regarding that case to see whether he really feels, when he looks at it, that it indicates that the quality of attention that is required in these cases of British prisoners improperly and illegally incarcerated overseas is really being given by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. I hope he would agree to do that and review that correspondence.

I have just had the honour of speaking to Richard Ratcliffe, as I did two years ago when he was on hunger strike outside the Iranian embassy. I also want to commend my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq) for her eighth urgent question on this matter. Can the Minister just set out how, or if, we are using our international partnerships to try to bring an end to this dreadful situation?

I am sure all of us send our solidarity to Richard, who is having to go on a second sit-out outside the FCDO this evening and for the coming days. I send my solidarity to him and his daughter, and to Nazanin. Further to calls for the Government to set out a comprehensive strategy to secure the release and return to the UK of dual nationals such as Nazanin and Anoosheh Ashoori, Morad Tahbaz and Mehran Raoof, can the Minister tell us what discussions the Prime Minister has had to secure the release of state-taken UK dual nationals as a matter of urgency with his Iranian counterpart?

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq) for securing this urgent question, and thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for granting it. The Minister knows of my constituent only too well—Anoosheh Ashoori—because he continues to be held alongside Nazanin. He was recently denied conditional release without a hearing. I am not sure if the Minister is aware of that. His daughter Elika said:

“The fate of our family is at the mercy of the UK government. They…will decide whether we see our dad in the near future or when he is an old man in his 70s having wasted a decade of his life in…jail.”

Can the Minister say to me whether my constituent Anoosheh Ashoori will be granted diplomatic protection?

I commend and thank the hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq) for her press appearance—she is much admired by many in this Chamber. Recent news from Nazanin’s husband has confirmed the impact that imprisonment is having on her mental health and stability, and that is little wonder when we see a glimpse of the way that this British citizen is living, ever aware that Members of the House had thought to secure her freedom, only for that to be thwarted. What steps is the Minister prepared to take to secure her freedom once and for all, and to send a message that this nation, this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, will protect her own?