Tehran’s Judiciary Chief Gholamhosein Esmaili discussed the latest conditions of Nazani Zagahri’s case and said “Nazanin Zaghari is at present serving her prison sentence handed down by the court and there is no talk of her release.”
“Apart from the sentence she is serving now, there is another court case against her which is going through legal proceedings,” Tehran’s Judiciary Chief said.
Referring to Zagahri’s other case, Esmaili said “the said case is now open at court and judges are investigating it. No time for a hearing has been determined yet.”
Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw claimed that in his recent trip to Iran to attend the Second Tehran Security Conference, he negotiated with Iranian officials concerning the release of Nazanin Zaghari.
Stating that negotiations in this regard were friendly, Jack Straw said “we offered strong reasons for the necessity of releasing Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and another prisoner based on humanitarian concerns.” He claimed that Iranian officials have told him they are taking this option into consideration.
The Spokesperson of Judiciary Branch Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei had previously stressed that the British delegation has had no talks with the Judiciary officials in this regard and added “any decision regarding the release of the prisoners is upon the Judiciary Branch.”
He discussed the conditions for release of the said prisoners, saying that if a prisoner sentenced to ten years of imprisonment has served half of his or her sentence and has special conditions, he or she can be released on parole. If the sentence is less than 10 years and the prisoner has served a third of her sentence, she can be released on parole.
Nazanin Zaghari, an Iranian-British dual citizen was arrested in Imam Khomeini International Airport by IRGC forces and has been detained in Iran since 3 April, 2016. Ms. Zaghari was condemned of actively participating in social networks related to espionage activities and also plots to overthrow the Establishment. Ms. Zaghari was also convicted of leading a network of spies which received support from foreign intelligence services and media. She taught online courses to reporters in BBC Persian and had traveled to Iran with the intention of recruiting people and training them to engage in propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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