Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has criticised the UK government for the delay in securing her release, saying “what happened now should have happened six years ago”.
In her first news conference since arriving back in the UK, the 43-year-old thanked supporters including her “amazing, wonderful” husband Richard for campaigning for her release.
But she said delays in settling a £400m debt with Iran dating back to 1979 contributed to her “cruel” six-year detention.
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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe news conference – latest updates
She said: “I was told many many time that ‘oh, we’re going to get you home’. That never happened.
“How many foreign secretaries does it take to get someone home? What happened now should have happened six years ago.”
She added that the “meaning of freedom is never going to be complete” until Morad Tahbaz and other dual nationals are released and reunited with their families.
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Read more: The six-year fight for freedom
She said she was “very grateful to whoever has been involved in getting us home” and highlighted the work of her lawyer in Iran who had been “fearlessly fighting” for her release.
Moment of return was ‘precious’ and ‘very emotional’
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was “powerless” in prison and said she was “overwhelmed” as she landed back in the UK.
“That moment was precious,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for that moment for such a long time.
“And I was overwhelmed, specifically to get to know Gabriella and Richard after such a long time.
“It was a very, very emotional moment.”
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was joined by her husband, Richard, at Portcullis House in London to talk about her experience, along with their local MP Tulip Siddiq – who had long campaigned for her return.
Ms Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn and shadow economic secretary to the Treasury, met the British-Iranian charity worker for the first time on Sunday after six years of campaigning.
She told the news conference she asked the Foreign Affairs Committee of MPs to investigate Nazanin’s case.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained on security charges in 2016 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Imam Khomeini airport after a holiday to Iran during which she introduced her daughter to her parents.
She arrived back in Britain alongside fellow dual national Anoosheh Ashoori, who was arrested in August 2017 while visiting his elderly mother in Tehran.
The 67-year-old was detained in Evin Prison for almost five years, having been accused of spying.
Both Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori have consistently denied the allegations against them.
Campaigners are now hoping Iran will release 66-year-old British-US national Morad Tahbaz, who was held in January 2018 during a crackdown on environmental activists.
