Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has had her temporary leave from prison in Iran extended by two weeks, her husband has revealed.
The British-Iranian mother was among about 85,000 prisoners released from Evin prison in Tehran on 17 March as part of efforts to stop the rapid spread of coronavirus.
Richard Ratcliffe said his wife’s father had been told her two-week furlough had been extended until 18 April.
Download the new Independent Premium app
Sharing the full story, not just the headlines
Her file has also been put forward to the Iranian prosecutor general to be considered for clemency, he added.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport in April 2016 while travelling to introduce her young daughter, Gabriella, to her parents.
The aid worker, from Hampstead, north London, was sentenced to five years in prison over allegations, which she denies, of plotting to overthrow the Tehran government.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was later given 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.
She has been living at her parents’ house in Tehran since her temporary release but must wear an ankle tag and must stay within 300m of the property.
Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt welcomed the latest development in her case as a “glimmer of hope amidst the darkness”.
1/20 2018
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe hugs her daughter Gabriella, in Iran after she was allowed to leave the Iranian prison, she is being held in, for three days. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested during a holiday with her toddler daughter in April 2016. Iranian authorities accuse her of plotting against the government. Her family denies this, saying says she was in Iran to visit family.
Free Nazanin Campaign/AP
2/20
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabriella. Nazanin is serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly plotting to overthrow Iran’s government.
PA
3/20 June 2016
Richard Ratcliffe’s daughter Gabriella had her British passport confiscated and was stranded in Iran with her grandparents after her mother Nazanin was jailed. He left left a giant birthday card on the doorstep of the Iranian embassy in central London to mark her second birthday in June 2016.
PA
4/20
Nazanin has spent some of her prison sentence in solitary confinement.
PA
5/20
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard and daughter Gabriella.
Family Handout
6/20 July 2016
Richard Ratcliffe delivering a letter of petition with his mother Barbara Ratcliffe and MP Tulip Siddiq, to 10, Downing Street on the 100th day of her detention, on July 12, 2016.
Getty
7/20
Supporters of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe held a vigil outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to mark her 707 days in captivity.
Getty
8/20 January 2017
Richard Ratcliffe holds a ‘#Free Nazanin’ sign and candle during a vigil for for wife on January 16, 2017. The vigil, being held outside the Iranian Embassy in London marks one year since the Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and other US-Iranian dual-nationals were released from prison in Iran.
Getty
9/20
Nazanin with her daughter Gabriella before they were detained by Iranian authorities.
Change.org
10/20 September 2017
Gabriella, who is three-years-old in this picture, has now spent two years away from her mother.
Richard Ratcliffe
11/20 November 2017
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson meets with Richard Ratcliffe over Nazanin’s case. They meet just days after Johnson told a parliamentary committee that she was in Iran “training journalists”.
WPA Pool/Getty
12/20 November 2017
Actor Emma Thompson braved pneumonia to support Richard Ratcliffe in leading demonstrators before a march in support of Nazanin in November.
Reuters
13/20 November 2017
Richard Ratcliffe after the march said: ‘It is profoundly moving to see so many people here.’
REUTERS
14/20 November 2017
A picture of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe shown on Iranian state TV as part of a report that made fresh allegations against her. They said she had been recruiting for banned broadcast services, as well as ‘opposition cyber teams’.
15/20 December 2017
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani greets British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson at the presidential office in Tehran, Iran. Johnson visited Tehran to discuss the fate of detained Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
EPA
16/20
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her daughter Gabriella.
PA
17/20 December 2017
Photos of Richard Ratcliffe and his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on display at their home in north London. Mr Ratcliffe said he believed there was “still a chance” she may be released from an Iranian prison in time for a dream Christmas together. Unfortunately that didn’t happen.
PA
18/20 February 2018
Richard Ratcliffe delivers a petition and a letter addressed to the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to demand her release, at the Iranian Embassy in London on February 21, 2018. He also left support letters for his spouse in the country’s embassy, amid a visit by a deputy foreign minister.
AFP/Getty
19/20 August 2018
Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt meeting Richard Ratcliffe. Hunt has pledged to do everything possible to secure the release of a charity worker jailed in Iran
Jeremy Hunt/PA
20/20 August 2018
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe hugs her daughter Gabriella, in Iran after she was allowed to leave the Iranian prison, she is being held in, for three days. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested during a holiday with her toddler daughter in April 2016. Iranian authorities accuse her of plotting against the government. Her family denies this, saying says she was in Iran to visit family.
PA
1/20 2018
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe hugs her daughter Gabriella, in Iran after she was allowed to leave the Iranian prison, she is being held in, for three days. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested during a holiday with her toddler daughter in April 2016. Iranian authorities accuse her of plotting against the government. Her family denies this, saying says she was in Iran to visit family.
Free Nazanin Campaign/AP
2/20
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabriella. Nazanin is serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly plotting to overthrow Iran’s government.
PA
3/20 June 2016
Richard Ratcliffe’s daughter Gabriella had her British passport confiscated and was stranded in Iran with her grandparents after her mother Nazanin was jailed. He left left a giant birthday card on the doorstep of the Iranian embassy in central London to mark her second birthday in June 2016.
PA
4/20
Nazanin has spent some of her prison sentence in solitary confinement.
PA
5/20
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard and daughter Gabriella.
Family Handout
6/20 July 2016
Richard Ratcliffe delivering a letter of petition with his mother Barbara Ratcliffe and MP Tulip Siddiq, to 10, Downing Street on the 100th day of her detention, on July 12, 2016.
Getty
7/20
Supporters of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe held a vigil outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to mark her 707 days in captivity.
Getty
8/20 January 2017
Richard Ratcliffe holds a ‘#Free Nazanin’ sign and candle during a vigil for for wife on January 16, 2017. The vigil, being held outside the Iranian Embassy in London marks one year since the Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and other US-Iranian dual-nationals were released from prison in Iran.
Getty
9/20
Nazanin with her daughter Gabriella before they were detained by Iranian authorities.
Change.org
10/20 September 2017
Gabriella, who is three-years-old in this picture, has now spent two years away from her mother.
Richard Ratcliffe
11/20 November 2017
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson meets with Richard Ratcliffe over Nazanin’s case. They meet just days after Johnson told a parliamentary committee that she was in Iran “training journalists”.
WPA Pool/Getty
12/20 November 2017
Actor Emma Thompson braved pneumonia to support Richard Ratcliffe in leading demonstrators before a march in support of Nazanin in November.
Reuters
13/20 November 2017
Richard Ratcliffe after the march said: ‘It is profoundly moving to see so many people here.’
REUTERS
14/20 November 2017
A picture of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe shown on Iranian state TV as part of a report that made fresh allegations against her. They said she had been recruiting for banned broadcast services, as well as ‘opposition cyber teams’.
15/20 December 2017
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani greets British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson at the presidential office in Tehran, Iran. Johnson visited Tehran to discuss the fate of detained Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
EPA
16/20
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her daughter Gabriella.
PA
17/20 December 2017
Photos of Richard Ratcliffe and his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on display at their home in north London. Mr Ratcliffe said he believed there was “still a chance” she may be released from an Iranian prison in time for a dream Christmas together. Unfortunately that didn’t happen.
PA
18/20 February 2018
Richard Ratcliffe delivers a petition and a letter addressed to the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to demand her release, at the Iranian Embassy in London on February 21, 2018. He also left support letters for his spouse in the country’s embassy, amid a visit by a deputy foreign minister.
AFP/Getty
19/20 August 2018
Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt meeting Richard Ratcliffe. Hunt has pledged to do everything possible to secure the release of a charity worker jailed in Iran
Jeremy Hunt/PA
20/20 August 2018
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe hugs her daughter Gabriella, in Iran after she was allowed to leave the Iranian prison, she is being held in, for three days. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested during a holiday with her toddler daughter in April 2016. Iranian authorities accuse her of plotting against the government. Her family denies this, saying says she was in Iran to visit family.
PA
“Let’s pray that this remarkable family are reunited soon,” he wrote on Twitter.
No hype, just the advice and analysis you need
The family’s MP Tulip Siddiq tweeted that every day Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe is out of prison is “better than the alternative”.
But she said that the main focus remained “getting her home and away from the danger of coronavirus in Iran as soon as possible”.
Iran is among the countries worst-affected by Covid-19 – reporting more than 29,000 confirmed cases and more than 2,200 deaths due to the infection.
Additional reporting by Press Association.
