Iran criticizes UK for granting diplomatic protection to Iran citizen

Tehran, March 12, IRNA – The UK government's act to grant diplomatic protection to Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari does not by itself create new legal status and merely reflects a political choice by the UK which contradicts the UK legal stances in international organizations, according to Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi. Speaking to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Tuesday, Qasemi said that Tehran has become informed of the UK government's act and has received an official report in this regard. He added that the related sectors are now reviewing the legal and political aspects of the report. Regardless of her having another nationality or not and Iran's laws regarding nationality and dual nationality, Zaghari has appeared as an Iranian national in all her activities and visits to Iran. What is certain is that the British Government's action lacks goodwill and is not considered as constructive and positive in any way. 'Presently, I can only say that the case of Mrs. Zaghari regarding the judicial process and with regard to all the regulations and laws exercised by concerned judicial bodies is being normally investigated,' Qasemi said. He went on to say that as an Iranian national she has enjoyed all its legal and civil rights, including health and medical services, both in the hearings and prison term. In an unconventional move, Hunt has agreed Britain will accord 'diplomatic protection' to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman sentenced to five years in prison for spying. He also has claimed that the move will show to the world that she is innocent and he hopes that by elevating the dispute over her detention to a formal state-to-state issue, he is trying to pave the way for her freedom. The UK foreign secretary accused Tehran of exploiting innocent individuals as 'pawns for diplomatic leverage' and called on Iran to release the woman immediately. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in Kerman in April 2016 on charges related to national security; she has been sentenced to five years in jail. Though her husband had claimed that she has visited Iran to meet her family and had had no media missions, in November 2016, Boris Johnson, the then UK foreign secretary, said in a speech in the British House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Select Committee that she had been on media mission. 'When I look at what Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing, she was simply teaching people journalism as I understand it.' His remarks made the UK media react and made him apologize. Soon he announced he was going to Iran to talk about the case while he had nothing in hand except for his 'mistake'. The UK media wrote a lot against him and claimed that Iran arrested Zaghari due to the UK's 450 million-pound (roughly $640 million) debt to Iran, but Iran rejected the claim. Zaghari's husband said he was supposed to accompany Johnson on that visit, but he was not granted a visa. Iran's envoy to London Hamid Baeedinejad broke his two-year silence and told British media about a letter dating to early spring 2017. Iran had expressed readiness to grant visa to Ratcliff though he rejected that and just hoped to think about going to Tehran after the elections in Iran. Then Baeedinejad wondered why Zaghari's husband didn’t use the opportunity to visit her.