Originally posted to the Middle East Monitor, 17 March 2022
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, both British-Iranian nationals, landed in the UK in the early hours of Thursday and were reunited with their families after years of imprisonment in Iran, Anadolu News Agency reports.
The duo was respectively accused of plotting to overthrow the government and spying, charges they both denied.
They landed at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire after a seven-hour flight from Oman, shortly after 0100GMT.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, waved at cameras as she walked into the airport, where she was then pictured embracing her seven-year-old daughter, Gabriella, and her husband, Richard.
As she disembarked, her daughter could be heard asking “Is that mummy?” and later shouted “mummy” as her mother made her way down the plane’s stairs.
Ashoori, 66, gave cameras a peace sign, as he made his way to the airport alongside Zaghari-Ratcliffe. His family members were in tears as they reunited with him.
The two families also chatted with each other and took a group photo.
British Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, who was at the airport, said on Twitter: “Delighted that Nazanin and Anoosheh have landed safely in the UK and are reunited with their families and loved ones. Welcome home.”
She also hailed Oman’s “instrumental” role in securing the pair’s release.
Truss also stressed that their release was separate to the British government’s payment of an outstanding £400 million ($524 million) “legitimate debt” to Iran.
