Story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: After 6 years in Iran prison, she returns to UK, reunites with family
'It has been a really difficult 48 hours'
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said, "It has been a really difficult 48 hours. The expectation was that they would be released but we weren't sure right until the last minute so it's been very emotional but also a really happy moment for the families."
Anoosheh Ashoori also returned
Together with fellow freed British-Iranian Anoosheh Ashoori, Zaghari-Ratcliffe flew from Tehran to Muscat, before travelling on to England's RAF Brize Norton.
UK PM Boris Johnson said, "I am very pleased to confirm that the unfair detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori in Iran has ended today, and they will now return to the UK."
Her husband calls it 'huge relief'
Her husband said it was a "huge relief" when she finally got on the plane to Oman and was on her way home, a free woman. "I think it's going to be the beginning of a new life, a normal life, and hopefully a happy family," he added. "The first thing she wanted was for me to make her a cup of tea, so we will do."
What happened on April 3, 2016?
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's life was torn apart on April 3, 2016, when she was arrested with her daughter Gabriella, then just aged one, at Tehran airport. She was in the country to visit her family for the Iranian new year.
Nazanin was accused of spying
Accused of plotting to overthrow the regime in the Islamic republic, which she always denied, she was separated from her daughter and had her British passport confiscated. In September that year, she was jailed for five years.
Difficult time in prison
Her time in prison was the start of a long struggle, marked by tough days in isolation and windowless cells, hunger strikes and the withholding of medical treatment. She slept in her clothes for more than a month and even contemplated suicide, her husband has said previously.
"She's always been someone with a keen sense of loyalty and justice. And definitely deeply outraged to how unfair all this is," he told AFP in 2020.
What kept her going?
Visits from Gabriella, a photo of whom she kept by her bed in her cell at Tehran's notorious Evin prison, kept her going, despite periods of depression.
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