Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori back in UK

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British-Iranian nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori are back in the UK after being freed from years of Iranian detention.

The pair touched down at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire just after 01:00 GMT on Thursday.

Their release came after months of negotiations between the British and Iranian governments.

After leaving the plane in good spirits, they met their families in the airport for the long-awaited reunions.

A picture taken inside the airport and posted to Twitter by Mr Ashoori’s daughter, Elika Ashoori, showed both returnees standing in a group with their relatives.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s seven-year-old daughter Gabriella could be seen with her arms round her mother’s neck.

Speaking from the airport, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the pair’s release had been uncertain until the “last minute”, adding that recent days had been “very emotional” for both families.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, and Mr Ashoori, 67, left Iranian capital Tehran for the UK via Oman, shortly after being freed on Wednesday.

It marked the end of an ordeal that, for Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager for the Thomson Reuters foundation, began in 2016 when she was accused of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government.

In April last year, she was sentenced to a further year in prison and a one-year travel ban on charges of propaganda against the government.

Mr Ashoori, a retired civil engineer, was detained in 2017 on spying charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Both Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori have always denied the claims against them.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60775180