Iran has released British charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was jailed by Tehran for five years over espionage charges. Ratcliffe has been released by the Iranian authorities and is at Tehran airport.
The 44-year old charity worker, who holds British-Iranian dual citizenship, is travelling along with another detained British-Iranian, Anousheh Ashouri, to her North West London to meet her family, revealed their lawyer Hojjat Kermani.
Her release was confirmed on Wednesday as London and Tehran are in talks about a £400 million debt that dates back to the 1970s.
"Nazanin is at the airport in Tehran and on her way home. I came into politics to make a difference, and right now I'm feeling like I have," said local Labour MP Tulip Siddiq.
Plot to Overthrow Iranian Govt
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in April 2016 at Tehran airport while serving as a project manager at the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Later, an Iranian court had convicted her of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government. The court had sent her to five years in jail, of which she spent four years in Tehran's Evin Prison and one under house arrest, reported Daily Mail.
The company, British government and Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband Richard had denied the charges. The charity worker had been under house arrest in Iran and was not able to leave the country since her release from prison.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, before leaving for his Mid-East visit, had said that a negotiating team has been at work in Tehran to free Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who holds dual UK-Iranian citizenship.
The Backdoor Deal? The Release Potentially Cost UK £400 million?
Her release comes as the UK and Iran are in negotiations about a possible deal which is linked to a £400 million debt in 1970 owned to Tehran by the UK. It is a 'priority to pay the debt that we owe to Iran', UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told Sky News earlier.
Britain is believed to be accepting that it has to pay the debt as it did not make delivery for an order of 1,500 Chieftain tanks after the Iranian shah was replaced by another regime following the Iranian revolution in the 1970s.
