Dear All
The problem with dealing with third world countries such as Iran is that their system of justice is rather primitive, Iran despite all its wealth and history, being one of the cradles of civilization is to all intensive purposes backward. This is what happens when the so called Iran revolution took place, and a democracy was returned to the stone ages, and all done in the name of religion. Iranians who stay there have not enjoyed the benefits of the modern world, not to the fullest extent. In any country, where justice is replaced by tyranny, by the edict of the mob, this must be considered a bad sign. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a political prisoner in Iran, she isn't a spy, she is a pawn, a pawn used by the Iranians. In fact, the Iranians are so stupid, they haven't the brains to trade her for something, or indeed cultivate goodwill by releasing her.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a British-Iranian charity worker, of course most charity workers aren't treated like her. Charity workers are usually seen as a benefit to any country they work in, not because of their manual work, but because of their experience. So, how did the Iranians repay her kindness, well, they accused her of being a spy, and shoved her in prison. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe isn't a spy, but she was sentenced to five years' imprisonment after being found guilty of "plotting to topple the Iranian government". I know what you are thinking, all by herself? If you look at her background which is documented, you will see her background is hardly James Bond, and of course have you ever seen a James Bond movie where he is lugging his young family about with him on a mission. At the time of her arrest, the head of Kerman province's justice department, Ali Tavakoli, said she and others had participated in projects run by the BBC and received funds from London:
"This gang was running a number of projects and plans for anti-revolutionary Iranians based abroad, especially for the BBC Persian, under the guise of legitimate activities. Financial aid for this group was usually provided from London under the pretext of charitable donations. The director of the team was an individual who has served the BBC as a mentor and teacher in a number of countries such as Malaysia, India and Afghanistan and his travels to these countries were paid for by British intelligence services."
Ali Tavakoli is someone who should be removed from their justice department as he seems to be someone who makes up evidence and presents that as fact. From what I can tell his method of investigation is, 'I don't like what some people say or could be doing, and so that must be a crime'. Iran is a backward country, and the fact that someone like Ali Tavakoli gets paid, and gets away with victimising people under the guise of justice is a disgrace. Justice is quite straight forward, you find the bad people, stop them doing bad things, arrest them and put them in prison. What Ali has done is arrest a good person, fit them up without evidence and imprison them, then roped in the government to rubberstamp his madness. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been sentenced to another year in prison after being found guilty of propaganda activities against the regime in Iran. It is almost like a rolling programme of victimisation now, having illegally imprisoned her, they have to justify to the world their corruption dressed up as justice by keep put her imprison. As well as being put in prison again, the British-Iranian charity worker was also given a one-year ban from leaving the country.
I am sure that once Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is released, her days of doing charity work for a backward country like Iran will come to an abrupt end. You see, she will realise that although she was born there, there are certain types of people not worth helping. If she had been wiser, she should have recognised what the Iranians where all about. History has show over the last 40 years who wretched the nation has become as a whole. In fact, the recent joke is that Iran has been appointed to the UN Commission on women's rights. That is like giving a rapist a job at a rape crisis centre, or as equally bizarre a man dressed as a woman a job at a rape crisis centre, the latter already been done in Scotland. Iran is a backward country, but don't forget, so is Scotland, the fabric of Scotland is being destroyed so that the poor are losing services and facilities. In order to jail Zaghari-Ratcliffe, her crime is, that she done things which are entirely legal, her lawyer said she had been accused of taking part in a demonstration in London 12 years ago. Protesting is a legal sanctioned activity, and her other crime is that she gave an interview to the BBC Persian service. Neither of these things are illegal, and freedom of speech and expression covers her BBC interview. In all the time that this saga has been running, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been effectively powerless because the Iranians are backward. You see it doesn't matter when they release her, the damage to them has been done, it has been done because British-Iranian charity workers will be thinking, if imprisonment could happened to Zaghari-Ratcliffe, it could happen to them.
The Prime Minister said the UK would "redouble" efforts to free her but the UK Government now facing mounting calls to impose sanctions. Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a pawn, she is a hostage, so in all the time she has been held prisoner, the Iranians haven't used her. Her husband Richard Ratcliffe told the BBC the court's decision was "clearly a negotiating tactic" by the Iranian authorities. He is right, the Iranians have issues with their development and research of over the country's nuclear activities. Boris Johnson said that the Government will be “working very hard” to secure Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release.
The PM said:
“Obviously we will have to study the detail of what the Iranian authorities are saying. I don’t think it is right at all that Nazanin should be sentenced to any more time in jail. I think it is wrong that she is there in the first place and we will be working very hard to secure her release from Iran, her ability to return to her family here in the UK, just as we work for all our dual national cases in Iran. The Government will not stop, we will redouble our efforts, and we are working with our American friends on this issue as well.”
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the sentence was "inhumane".
He added:
“We continue to call on Iran to release Nazanin immediately so she can return to her family in the UK. We continue to do all we can to support her.”
Layla Moran MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, called for targeted sanctions to be introduced against Iran.
She said:
“This
is a cruel and heartless decision by the Iranian regime. Nazanin should be
coming home to her family, instead she’s being used as a political bargaining
chip yet again.
Enough is enough. The Foreign Secretary must now begin the process of introducing targeted Magnitsky sanctions against officials responsible. With Nazanin’s health deteriorating and her family in distress, strong words must be backed by real action. Nazanin has been put through hell for five years and today's verdict will prolong her suffering even more. The Government must do everything in its power to bring her home to her family immediately.”
Labour MP Lisa Nandy, shadow foreign secretary criticised the Government’s handling of the case.
The Labour MP tweeted:
“This is devastating news. Nazanin’s freedom is being used as a political bargaining chip and the Government has serious questions to answer over their failed strategy to bring her home.”
Finally, the fact of the matter is, if there was a Labour Government in power at Westminster, they too would have a failed strategy, assuming they had a strategy at all. There is a problem dealing with backward countries where human rights are not respected. The other problem is that the Iranian courts don't function as they should, imprisoning innocent people is hardly justice. Imagine all those people who work in the Iranian justice system who must know that all law and reason can be swept aside in favour of someone pulling their strings like a puppet from government. I personally cannot see what the point is having an embassy in a place like Iran, I would close it down, and place a ban on visiting Iran, or Iranians being allowed to land on British soil with the exception for medical cases. I would also say to the Iranians 'pack up' your UK embassy within 30 days, just throw the lot out. It should be made clear to the Iranians that the UK will not play the Iranians' game any longer. I put the Iranians to a decision, 30 days to return Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe or your embassy closes.
Yours sincerely
George Laird The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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