It was standing room only in the Macmillan room of Portcullis House. The first press conference to be given by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe since her release from detention in Iran was not something to be missed. For six years, Nazanin had been a silent figure in a continuing political drama. Now we were to get a voice to put to a name and photograph. She was to be even more impressive than any of us had imagined.
First, though, it was Tulip Siddiq, Nazanin and her husband’s local MP, who took centre stage. Having paid tribute to her constituents, she cut to the chase. Given it had taken the repayment of an acknowledged debt to secure Nazanin’s release, what had taken the UK government so long? And why had we detained three Iranians who had come to London in 2013 to negotiate the terms of the repayment? Surely that had only encouraged Iran to think taking hostages was the only way to get its money back.
