Iranian authorities have returned the passport of a UK woman who has been detained in the country for almost six years, raising hopes of progress in negotiations toward her release.
Charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe remains at her parents’ home in Tehran, said Tulip Siddiq, her local lawmaker in the UK. “I also understand that there is a British negotiating team in Tehran right now,’’ Siddiq said on Twitter. “I will keep posting updates as I get them.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has dual UK-Iranian citizenship, served five years in prison after being taken into custody at Tehran’s airport in April 2016. She was later convicted of plotting the overthrow of Iran’s government, a charge that she, her supporters and rights groups deny. She has been held under house arrest and unable to leave the country since her release. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s local lawyer, Hojjat Kermani, also told The Associated Press she had received her British passport.