Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe spends time with family at Chancellor’s Georgian mansion

Elly Blake21 March 2022

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has spent her first few days of freedom with her family at the Chancellor’s country mansion in Buckinghamshire.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, was reunited with her husband Richard and daughter Gabriella, seven, on Thursday after being jailed in Iran for six years.

But instead of going back to her family home in north London, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was whisked away to a safehouse in the Buckinghamshire countryside, where she spent time with her family.

The Telegraph reported she spent time at Dorneywood, an 18th century mansion which is typically used by Chancellors of the Exchequer.

The sprawling estate is set on 215 acres of green woodland and has a swimming pool and croquet lawn.

Dorneywood
AFP via Getty Images

Owned by the National Trust, the grace-and-favour home can be used by members of the Government.

Rishi Sunak, Health Secretary Sajid Javid, and former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott have all spent time there.

The family have not yet returned to their home in West Hampstead, London, instead being relocated to another undisclosed safehouse.

A photograph showing Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her daughter Gabriella cooking a pizza in the mansion’s kitchen was shared by Richard Ratcliffe on social media.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe - In pictures

1/22

It was also shared by Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, who has been involved with Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case from the beginning.

She tweeted: “Nazanin told me that this is what she missed most while she was imprisoned - every day moments with her little girl. Today was Gabriella’s choice of making homemade pizzas for lunch’.”

However, they were asked to take down the images by the Foreign Office officials over concerns their location could be compromised.

The family have now been moved on to another undisclosed location with the family of Anoosheh Ashoori, who was also released alongside Nazanin earlier this week.

Handout

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori, 67, finally left Tehran on Wednesday following months of negotiations.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the pair’s departure from Iran had been uncertain until the last minute.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested and detained on security charges in 2016 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

She was stopped at Imam Khomeini airport after taking her daughter to visit her parents, who are Iranian.

She was accused of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government. Allegations she always denied.

Mr Ashoori was arrested in August 2017 while visiting his elderly mother in Tehran.

He was detained in Evin prison for almost five years, having been accused of spying.

Their release was secured after Britain paid settled a debt of £400 million for 1,500 Chieftain tanks which Iran had paid for but which had never been delivered.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the debt had been settled “in parallel”, and “in full compliance with UK and international sanctions and all legal obligations”.

She said that negotiations had been taking place over the past few months with Iran, with the help of the Gulf state of Oman.

Channel 4 has announced it is releasing a documentary about Mr Ratcliffe’s battle to free his wife

The documentary, called Nazanin, will air later this year and show Mr Ratcliffe juggling childcare with campaigning for his wife’s release.

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: “Nazanin is an intimate, access-driven documentary – part love story, part political thriller.

“It has a human story with a big heart and mixes original, observational filming with never before seen material filmed by Nazanin herself about her ordeal.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in