Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been summoned to court in Iran and told to pack a bag for prison, as her family called on the British government to urgently change its strategy in securing her release. Richard Ratcliffe, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, said she had been told to face an Iranian judge in court next Monday to face a new charge brought against her and that she would be returned to the country’s notorious Evin prison. Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who holds dual British and Iranian nationality, was detained in Iran in 2016 while visiting her family and convicted on dubious spying charges, as part of an apparent attempt by Iran to use her as a hostage in negotiations with Britain. “Yesterday Nazanin was suddenly told that she will be facing Judge Salavati in Court on Monday November 2. She was told to pack a bag for prison and bring it with her when the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] pick her up, since that is where she will be going after court,” Mr Ratcliffe said in a statement on Wednesday. She had been due to attend a trial in September to face new charges against her, but that hearing was postponed. Mr Ratcliffe added that he recently discussed her case with Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, who is said to have reassured him that diplomatic efforts to free his wife were “ongoing.”
