DUBAI (Reuters) – The trial of British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in the Iranian revolutionary court was held on Sunday, his lawyer Hojjat Kermani told Reuters, hoping he would be acquitted of “propaganda against the system” .
“His trial was held in the 15th branch of the revolutionary court. His charge is propaganda against the system, “Kermani said, adding that” Zaghari-Ratcliffe was fine and quiet in the court session. “
“The trial was held in a calm atmosphere. The final defense was taken. Legally, the court should announce the verdict within a week, but it is up to the judge. I hope she is acquitted. “
The Iranian judiciary was not immediately available for comment.
Iran had released Zaghari-Ratcliffe from house arrest last Sunday at the end of a five-year prison sentence, but had been summoned back to court on the other charge.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, project leader of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at Tehran airport in April 2016 and later convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the clerical establishment.
His family and foundation, a charity that operates independently of media firm Thomson Reuters and its news subsidiary Reuters, deny the charge.
The foundation was not immediately available for comment on Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s trial.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who served most of his sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison, was released last March during the coronavirus pandemic and remained under house arrest, but his movements were restricted and he was forbidden to leave the country.
Last Sunday, Iranian authorities removed his ankle tag, but he has not yet been able to leave Iran.
Asked if she could leave the country, Kermani said, “I don’t know about her travel ban situation.”
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab praised the removal of the ankle tag, but said Iran continued to impose a “cruel and intolerable ordeal” on Zaghari-Ratcliffe and his family.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in a call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday, said Zaghari-Ratcliffe should be allowed to return home to his family.
Iranian media reported that during the call, Rouhani raised the issue of a historic £ 400 million debt that Tehran says Britain owes the Islamic Republic in capital and interest on a 1970s arms deal. with the then Shah of Iran.
Written by Parisa Hafezi; Edited by Bernadette Baum