British-Iranian aid worker Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces new charge

British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was summoned by an Iranian Revolutionary Court on Tuesday and informed about a new charge, state television reported.

“Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court summoned Nazanin Zaghari and her designated lawyer this morning and informed her of a new indictment,” state television cited an unnamed official as saying on its website.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in April 2016 at a Tehran airport as she headed back to Britain with her daughter after a family visit.

She was sentenced to five years in jail after being convicted of plotting to overthrow Iran’s clerical establishment. Her family and the foundation, a charity that operates independently of media firm Thomson Reuters and its news subsidiary Reuters, deny the charge.

The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Richard Ratcliffe, continues his hunger strike outside the Iranian Embassy on June 28, 2019 in London, England [Dan Kitwood/Getty Images]

The Thomson Reuters Foundation urged British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “to intervene promptly” to secure Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s permanent release.

READ: Britain acknowledges its 40-year-old debt to Iran

“The Thomson Reuters Foundation utterly condemns the latest move by the Iranian authorities to prolong Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s inhumane and unjust ordeal,” said Antonio Zappulla, Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO, in a statement.

Britain’s Foreign Office said Iran’s action was unacceptable.

“Iran bringing new charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is indefensible and unacceptable. We have been consistently clear that she must not be returned to prison,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.