Iran returns passport of detained UK charity worker

Iranian authorities have returned the passport of a U.K. charity worker who has been detained for more than five years, raising hopes that she could be released

Britain Iran Woman Detained (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Iranian authorities have returned the passport of a U.K. woman who has been detained in the country for almost six years, raising hopes of progress in negotiations toward her release.

Charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe remains at her parents' home in Tehran, said Tulip Siddiq, her local lawmaker in the U.K.

“I also understand that there is a British negotiating team in Tehran right now,’’ Siddiq said on Twitter. “I will keep posting updates as I get them.”

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has dual U.K.-Iranian citizenship, served five years in prison after being taken into custody at Tehran’s airport in April 2016. She was later convicted of plotting the overthrow of Iran’s government, a charge that she, her supporters and rights groups deny.

She has been held under house arrest and unable to leave the country since her release.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s local lawyer, Hojjat Kermani, also told The Associated Press she had received her British passport. However, Kermani said she remained banned from leaving the country.

“We hope that these negotiations will be concluded soon,” he said.