Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

REDRESS Submits Evidence to the FAC Inquiry into the Handling of State Hostage Situations

As legal representatives for former Iran hostage, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and her husband Richard Ratcliffe, REDRESS has submitted evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee inquiry into the handling of state level hostage situations. The submission focuses on the following topics: 

a. Diplomatic protection 

b. Hostage recognition 

c. Torture 

d. Magnitsky sanctions 

e. Consular protection 

Recommendations: 

REDRESS submits that the UK government’s response to Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe being held hostage by Iran was weak and reactive. It failed to deter and challenge State hostage taking and protect Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other British citizens from abuse. The government’s mistakes on Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case included squandering diplomatic protection, failing to publicly recognise her as a hostage, failing to robustly hold Iran accountable for torture, and failing to assert a right to consular access. FCDO advisers frequently adopted the most conservative and least-favourable interpretations of legal concepts such as diplomatic protection, hostage taking, and consular protection, which minimised the protections offered by international law. Addressing these failings will empower the government to take a more robust and proactive approach to State hostage taking, to deter this practice and better protect the UK’s citizens abroad. 

Moreover, the government should employ Magnitsky sanctions, the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations (‘Canada Declaration’), and the Convention Against the Taking of Hostages 1979 (‘Hostage Convention’), to undertake multilateral action to address State hostage taking. 

a. Diplomatic protection 

Despite the initial commitment from the government to utilise diplomatic protection, since the change in foreign secretary in July 2019 the government has not taken action to follow through on this. The government consistently cited and emphasised Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s dual Iranian nationality and did not refer to her diplomatic protection status or predominant British nationality. The government has blamed its inaction on Iran not recognising dual nationality even though the grant of diplomatic protection is not in any way dependent on another State’s recognition or acceptance of the person’s British nationality. 

Recommendations: 

  • The UK government should review and publish its policy for the grant of diplomatic protection, including guidelines relating to the measures that may be taken to implement diplomatic protection in accordance with international law.

b. Hostage recognition  

Since 2018, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Mr Ratcliffe, and their legal team consistently requested that the FCDO recognise that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other British nationals arbitrarily detained for diplomatic leverage were (and in the case of others who remain in detention, still are) hostages. REDRESS has commissioned legal opinions to establish that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, during her detention, fell within the definition of “hostage” under the Hostages Convention and UK domestic law. The government is failing to adequately support victims and their families where the victim’s release is entirely contingent on negotiations between the involved States. 

Recommendation: 

  • The UK government should call out State hostage taking for what it is, as well as review and publish its internal policies on managing hostage cases and ensure they are applied in cases where individuals are detained by a State for diplomatic leverage.

c. Torture 

 The severe suffering inflicted on Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe by Iran to exercise diplomatic leverage over the UK clearly constitutes torture as defined by the Convention Against Torture. It was not until May 2021, that the former Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab acknowledged that she had been a victim of torture. There is also a concern that the UK government contributed to this suffering when it put pressure on Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe to sign a false confession, which she had resisted up to that point, before she was allowed to board the plane home to the UK in March 2022. The UK government failing to properly acknowledge and challenge torture has exposed Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other British citizens to further abuse. 

Recommendation: 

  • The UK government should review and publish its internal policies on protecting British nationals overseas from torture and ill-treatment, including ensuring the UK’s international legal obligations are met.

d. Magnitsky sanctions 

In 2021, REDRESS and the Free Nazanin Campaign submitted a dossier of evidence to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss seeking the imposition of Magnitsky sanctions on ten Iranian officials involved in Iran’s hostage taking. Imposing a personal cost on perpetrators would help to address the problem of impunity and directly challenge State hostage taking. However, there is no indication from the FCDO that the government will act on the evidence presented by REDRESS and the Free Nazanin Campaign. 

Recommendation: 

  • The UK government should impose Magnitsky sanctions to deter hostage taking and hold perpetrators accountable, in coordination with allied States under the “Partnership Action Plan” from the Canada Declaration.

e. Consular protection  

Consular protection is critical to protecting victims of arbitrary detention from further abuse by ensuring regular checks on their health and well-being, and conditions of detention. It also provides crucial practical and psychological assistance. According to the UK government, its provision of consular protection to British citizens overseas is a discretionary matter that does not attract any legal obligations, even where the detainee is a victim of or at risk of torture, is being held hostage, or has diplomatic protection. The government “requested” consular access to Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe but did not “assert” to Iran a right to consular access under international law, failing to proactively protect their citizen and the impact this has on British hostages.  

Recommendations: 

  • The UK government should be more robust in its provision of consular protection to British nationals detained overseas who have suffered, or are at risk of, serious human rights violations, including asserting a right to consular access for British dual nationals under international law.
  • A right to consular protection should be introduced into UK law.

REDRESS previously submitted evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee’s inquiry on Iran, which was incorporated into the “No prosperity without justice: the UK’s relationship with Iran” report from 16 December 2020. 

The report acknowledges and upholds a number of REDRESS’ proposals. 

Photo by: Free Nazanin Campaign