The husband of imprisoned Briton Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has welcomed the release of Matthew Hedges, saying it gives him “new hope” his wife may be home by Christmas.
The 39-year-old mother, from West Hampstead, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment for “plotting to topple the Iranian regime” and has been jailed in Tehran since 2016.
Her husband Richard Ratcliffe told HuffPost UK: “I am really pleased for Dani and Matt – and today’s news has lifted us all.”
“Their news is a reminder to keep hoping that one day freedom comes,” Ratcliffe said. “And so yes – today we do hope a little more positively that there might also be ears in Iran – for the request Jeremy Hunt made yesterday, so our Christmas wishes might also come true.”
Ratcliffe was responding to the news on Monday morning that PhD researcher Hedges, 31, had been pardoned just a week after being jailed for spying in the UAE.
The UAE issued the pardon as part of a series of orders on the country’s National Day anniversary. However, a spokesman for the nation said Hedges was “100% a secret service operative”. During a news conference, a video was shown of a purported confession from the researcher, apparently saying he was a member of MI6.
The Foreign Secretary described the pardon as a “bittersweet moment” while Zaghari-Ratcliffe remains incarcerated in Iran.
The minister posted a public display of support for the British mother shortly after the news broke on Monday.
On Twitter Hunt wrote: “Fantastic news about Matthew Hedges. Although we didn’t agree with charges we are grateful to UAE govt for resolving issue speedily.
“But also a bittersweet moment as we remember Nazanin & other innocent ppl detained in Iran. Justice won’t be truly done until they too are safely home.”
The foreign secretary appears to be upping the pressure on the Iranian regime to secure the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
The public statements come after the foreign secretary visited Tehran on Monday last week and met the couple’s daughter, Gabriella.
The four year old, who has been separated from her mother since she was jailed in 2016, gave the foreign secretary a doll made by her mother as a present for his own four-year-old daughter.
Asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show on Sunday whether there were grounds for optimism in the Briton’s case, the Hunt said: “Well I think that’s more challenging.”
He described Iran as “one of the great civilisations of the Middle East” but said if it wants to be a great regional power it must stop “locking up innocent people as a tool of diplomatic leverage” saying this was “utterly unacceptable”.
Asked if he thought the Iranian regime was listening, he said: “I think they’re listening, but whether they’re going to do anything is a different matter.
“Richard Ratcliffe this time of year, every year, he launches a campaign to get Nazanin home for her birthday, which is December 26.
“And I know we all want to support that campaign. But if she could come home wouldn’t that be the best Christmas present not just for her, but for the whole country.”
Speaking to HuffPost UK last week, Nazanin’s husband said he was pushing for developments in her case before her birthday.
“We would be looking to have her back by Christmas,” he said. “This year she turns 40 on Boxing Day, so it’s a pretty big landmark in her head.
“So certainly I wrote to Iranian foreign minister Zarif last week saying please do what you can and work with the government to try and support this, because there will be a fall out if that date is passed, she has been threatening it.”