Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been released from house arrest in Iran - the case explained

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran on spying charges, has been released from house arrest in the country.

She has completed her five-year sentence, but the dual national is scheduled to appear in court to face a second set of charges in March, according to her lawyer.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for Zaghari-Ratcliffe to be released “permanently” so she can be reunited with her family in Britain.

So, who is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, why was she jailed in Iran, what is Mr Johnson’s involvement in the case - and will she return to the UK?

Here is everything you need to know.

Who is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe?

Before her arrest, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe lived in London with her husband Richard Ratcliffe, an accountant, and her daughter Gabriella.

The 41-year-old, who has dual British and Iranian citizenship, worked as a project manager for charity Thomson Reuters Foundation and was previously employed by international development charity BBC Media Action.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe took her daughter, now six, to visit Iran in March 2016.

She says the trip was to celebrate the new year in the country and to visit her parents.

But the British-Iranian was detained at an Iranian airport in April 2016 when travelling home to London with Gabriella.

Why was she jailed in Iran?

Following her arrest, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly plotting to overthrow the Iranian government.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has said the dual national was leading a "foreign-linked hostile network" when she visited the country.

She maintains her innocence, saying she was on holiday in Iran visiting her family, and mostly speaks publicly through her husband who regularly calls her.

Ratcliffe said he had asked his wife what the charges were during a 2016 phone call, when a nearby prison guard said: "National security charges".

The Thomson Reuters Foundation and BBC Media Action both issued statements clarifying that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was not working in Iran but on holiday.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s sentence included eight months of solitary confinement and blindfolded interrogations.

She also went on two hunger strikes to protest at her conditions.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been denied consular access since Iran does not recognise her dual citizenship.

The UK Government has granted her diplomatic protection, meaning the case is treated as a formal, legal dispute between the two countries.

Ratcliffe believes that his wife, among other dual nationals, is being held hostage as Iran wants Britain to pay more than £400million in debt which dates back to a 1970s arms deal.

Yet the UK has said it can’t pay the sum due to sanctions against Iran.

Why was Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe moved from prison?

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was moved from jail in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

She was put under house arrest at her parents’ home in Tehran.

When her five-year sentence ended, Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s ankle tag - which stopped her from going more than 300 metres from the house - was removed.

Her lawyer said: “She was pardoned by Iran’s supreme leader last year, but spent the last year of her term under house arrest with electronic shackles tied to her feet. Now they’re cast off. She has been freed.”

Speaking after the ankle bracelet was removed on Sunday 7 March, Ratcliffe told the PA news agency that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was “genuinely happy” to be free of the tag.

But he added: "I'm a bit more guarded - it feels to me like they have made one blockage just as they have removed another, and we very clearly remain in the middle of this government game of chess.”