Freed British-Iranian Criticizes UK Release Efforts

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, seen here with her husband and daughter, said she was a pawn in the hands of two governments. (Handout Free Nazanin campaign/AFP file)

A British-Iranian charity worker held in Tehran for six years said on Monday that the UK government could have helped free her earlier, and called for all "unjustly detained" prisoners in Iran to be released.

Speaking publicly for the first time since returning home, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe said the UK government knew that Tehran wanted a historic £400-million ($530-million, 480-million euro) debt to be paid in order for her to be liberated.