UK national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, held in Iran for six years on espionage charges, released

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British aid worker who had been detained by Iranian authorities for the last six years on espionage charges, was released on Wednesday, local authorities said.

Besides her, another British-Iranian national, Anoosheh Ashoori, was released after spending five years in prison. He was also held on spying charges—a claim Ashoori denies.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the dual UK-Iranian national, was arrested at Tehran airport in April 2016 and later convicted by an Iranian court of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment.

The detention of dual citizens had roiled relations between London and Tehran.

UK MP Tulip Siddiq confirmed the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe on her official Twitter handle.

Siddiq said that she was informed that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was at the airport in Tehran and is heading home.

“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,” she tweeted.

According to AP news agency, which cited Iranian state media, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was permitted to travel to the airport alongside British officials after UK "settled a debt of $530 million to Tehran".

Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been under house arrest and was given her UK passport back this week, BBC reported.

Her husband Richard Ratcliffe intensely campaigned for her release, and even launched hunger strike twice— first outside the Iranian embassy in London in 2019, and then in October last year outside the UK foreign ministry.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe's sister-in-law Rebecca Ratcliffe told BBC News it was an "emotional day".

"It feels like we're on the home run now but until she leaves that airport we can't believe it," she said, adding that she had also spoken to Ratcliffe.

(With inputs from agencies)