Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release may depend on the UK repaying its debt to Iran – but can it lawfully pay?

By Alexandra Fowler, Lecturer in International Law, Westminster Law School, University of Westminster

Richard Ratcliffe’s efforts to secure the release of his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from Iran, where she has been detained for over five years for “national security-related” offences, have failed to bear fruit, despite his recent 21-day hunger strike outside the UK Foreign Office.

The sticking point, according to many observers, is the UK’s continuing non-payment of £400 million…

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