Iran airs more allegations against detained British woman

Iranian state television has aired more allegations against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, showing pictures of a BBC paystub and an email from 2010 showing she once worked to train Iranian journalists.
2 min read
26 November, 2017
Zaghari-Ratcliffe is serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly planning to topple Iran's government [Getty]
Iranian state television has aired more allegations against a detained Iranian-British woman as London considers making a $530 million payment to Tehran.

The TV program focused on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly planning the "soft toppling" of Iran's government.

The program showed pictures of a BBC paystub and an email from 2010 showing she once worked to train Iranian journalists.

Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the report was intended to increase pressure on the British government.

London is considering repaying Tehran some 400 million pounds from a pre-1979 arms deal.

Both sides say the money isn't related to Zaghari-Ratcliffe, though a similar payment by America came as Iran released four US citizens in 2016.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF), the media organisation's philanthropic arm, was arrested at Tehran airport on April 3, 2016 after visiting family.

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards accused her of having taken part in the "sedition movement" of protests that followed the disputed 2009 re-election of then hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe denies the charges.

She is serving a five-year jail sentence in Tehran but last month was presented with extra charges carrying a possible 16-year prison term.

TRF said those charges were that she had joined organisations specifically working to overthrow the regime, referring to her media charity work in London, and that she once attended a demonstration outside the Iranian embassy in Britain's capital.

Agencies contributed to this report.