Aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe says she should’ve been freed six years ago

London: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British aid worker who was detained in Iran for six years, has spoken publicly about her ordeal for the first time since she gained her freedom last week.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 44, said she should have come home to Britain six years ago. She appeared before the media on Tuesday (AEDT) in blue and yellow - the colours of the Ukrainian flag - alongside her husband Richard, who campaigned for her freedom, and their daughter Gabriella, who turns eight this year.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained in Iran for six years.Credit: Getty

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was freed last week after the British government agreed to pay a historic debt owed to Iran, worth £400 million ($713 million), relating to an order for military tanks which were never delivered because of sanctions imposed on trading with the country after the revolution. Two other prisoners were part of the deal: Anoosheh Ashoori returned to Britain with Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Morad Tahbaz was released on furlough, but his daughter said he has since been detained.

“We’ve only just found out, before we started this afternoon, that he’s been returned to the prison,” his daughter Roxanne told the news conference at the British Parliament, alongside Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Morad is an Iranian-American environmentalist who also holds British citizenship.

The British government said Iran would be limited to purchasing humanitarian goods with the repaid funds, but it would not provide details on how that would be independently monitored or enforced.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she was “very grateful” to everyone who had used their voice to get her home but she said that the deal – struck by new British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss – was made far too late.

“I shouldn’t have been in prison for six years, what’s happened now should have happened six years ago,” she said.

“I have been a pawn in the hands of the two governments over the past six years.

“I have seen five foreign secretaries changed over the course of six years, that is unprecedented given the politics of the UK.”

She said she was told many times that “we’re going to get you home” – promises which kept failing to eventuate.

“So there was a time that I felt like, do you know what, I’m not going to trust you.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabriella arrive for a press conference.Credit: Getty

“How many foreign secretaries does it take for someone to come home? Five. It should have been one of them eventually.”

Zaghari-Ratcliffe declined to describe her experience of solitary confinement.

“It will always haunt me,” she said.

But she said she was determined to leave the “black hole” that had been in her heart during her detention on the plane. She said it was a tough journey home.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard Ratcliffe said he was glad to be retiring from the campaign to gain her freedom.Credit: Getty

“Coming back to a daughter who is nearly eight, I left her when she was not even two ... there is a whole lot to catch up on, with Richard and Gabriella on getting to know them better,” she said.

But she said she would not hold a grudge and described her release as a glorious day. She used the opportunity to call for unity to secure the release of other political detainees.

Her husband said he was glad to be ending his campaign.

“It’s nice to be retiring, it’s been a long struggle,” he said, reaching across to hold his wife’s hand. “I am thankful it has come.

“I am super proud of her strength, of her survival, of her grace. I’m so pleased she is back home,” he said.

“It is for us over,” he said, but added that the process of healing had just begun. “It is baby steps back to normal,” he said.

The couple thanked campaigners and the media for their support.

Richard Ratcliffe said that he did not think the family would press for a judicial review.

Their local MP, Labour’s Tulip Siddiq said she had requested the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee review Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case.

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