Theresa May to urge Iran's president to release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
3 min read
Theresa May will make a direct plea for the release of a British mother jailed in Iran when she sits down for talks with the country's president today.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has spent more than two years in jail after being accused of spying, and her detention has prompted sharp criticism from human rights groups.
The Prime Minister will raise the charity worker's case when she holds face-to-face talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the United Nations general assembly in New York later today.
A senior government official said: "The PM will express serious concern at Nazanin's ongoing detention and call for her to be released upon humanitarian grounds."
The move is a significant escalation of diplomatic efforts to secure the release of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe whose detention has occupied two successive UK Foreign Secretaries.
Amnesty International's UK director Kate Allen, said: “This is a step in the right direction, and we welcome the news that the Prime Minister will personally address Nazanin’s plight.
“Nazanin’s detention has gone on far too long, and it’s time for her full and unconditional release.
“Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a prisoner of conscience who should never have been jailed in the first place. She should be freed once and for all and allowed to travel back to the UK to be with her young daughter Gabriella.”
CHEMICAL WEAPONS CALL
Mrs May will also use her trip to the UN to urge fellow world leaders to clampdown on the use of chemical weapons following both the Salisbury attack and the targeting of civilians in Syria.
Speaking before the visit, the Prime Minister warned that the "red lines" preventing chemical weapon use were "being eroded".
She added: "We worked closely with our allies on a coordinated response to Russia's use of chemical weapons in Salisbury, resulting in 28 countries as well as NATO joining us in expelling a total of over 150 Russian intelligence officers, the largest collective expulsion ever.
"But the international community needs to do more together, both to prevent future chemical weapons use and to ensure those who use them are held to account, but also to tackle the range of other threats to global security, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
Mrs May will also come face-to-face with US President Donald Trump, who has angered allies by imposing sharp tariffs on imported steel.
The Prime Minister told US TV station CBS ahead of the meeting that she continued to "trust" the controversial commander-in-chief.
"We have a special relationship," she said. "This is two people reflecting as leaders of their two countries - the relationship that those two countries have and have built up over a number of years."
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