A British–U.S.–Iranian national who was returned to an Iranian prison two days after being released has now been moved to a hotel in Tehran, the UK government confirmed.
A family member said the tri-national has gone on hunger strike.
Morad Tahbaz, a 66-year-old wildlife conservationist held in Iran since January 2018, was taken from his Tehran home and returned to Evin prison on Friday, two days after he was released on furlough.
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) said at the time that it had been told by Tehran that Tahbaz had been taken back to prison to fit an ankle bracelet.
In a late Sunday update, an FCDO spokesman said Tahbaz had been moved to a hotel in Tehran.
“We have been in touch with Morad’s family throughout the day and continue to lobby the Iranian authorities at the highest levels to allow him to return home immediately, as the Iranian government committed to doing,” the spokesman said.
It’s unclear whether an ankle bracelet was fitted.
On Monday morning, Tahbaz’s sister Tahrane Tahbaz, who lives in Madrid, said the detained conservationist had gone on hunger strike.
Tahrane told BBC Radio 4 that the family had not heard from her brother since he was taken back to prison.
“We have heard through a relative just a few hours ago that he’s been taken from the prison and he’s been taken to an undisclosed location and that he’s gone on hunger strike,” she said.
The Epoch Times couldn’t independently verify the information.
Morad’s daughter Roxanne Tahbaz urged the UK government to do “whatever they have to do” to make her family “whole again.”
Number 10 Downing Street said the UK is working “very closely with the United States” to secure Morad’s “permanent release and departure from Iran.”
“We have been in regular contact with Morad’s family and continue to lobby the Iranian authorities at the highest level,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said.
Morad Tahbaz, who has cancer, was arrested during a clampdown on environmental activists in January 2018.
He is a prominent conservationist and board member of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation that seeks to protect endangered species.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with his colleagues on vague charges of spying for the United States and undermining Iran’s security.
He was initially released on March 16 along with two other British–Iranian national detainees—43-year-old Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and 67-year-old Anoosheh Ashoori—after months of intensive diplomatic negotiations between London and Tehran.
On the same day, Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori were allowed to return to the UK, and the UK government announced it had authorised the payment of a £393.8 million ($515 million) historical debt to Iran “in parallel” with the release.
However, London-born Morad Tahbaz remained in Tehran. British ministers said his U.S. citizenship had complicated the matter as “that is seen in Iranian eyes as also meaning that the [United States] are involved.”
Tahrane Tahbaz said on Monday that the family had believed her brother would have been returned with Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori.
“Frankly, for four years we were led to believe that he would be part of the deal when it was made,” she told BBC Radio 4’s “Today.”
“And that’s what we were told. And the deal was made, the money was paid. And he wasn’t part of the deal—and he’s still there—and we’re very worried,” she said.
Speaking publicly for the first time after returning to the UK, Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she believes “the meaning of freedom is never going to be complete” unless Tahbaz and other dual nationals “who are unjustly detained in Iran” are reunited with their families.
A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said they “continue to work night and day to secure the release of our wrongfully detained citizens, including U.S.–UK citizen Morad Tahbaz.”
Bargaining Chip
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained on security charges in 2016 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Imam Khomeini Airport after a holiday visit to Iran, where she introduced her daughter to her parents.The Thomson Reuters Foundation project manager was accused of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, an allegation she consistently and vigorously denied.
Speaking publicly for the first time after returning to the UK, Zaghari-Ratcliffe said the Iranians told her six years ago that she was held as a bargaining chip.
“So, I didn’t know the details at the time. But I think it was the week [sic] two or week three that I was arrested, like six years ago, that they told me: ‘We want something off the Brits. We will not let you go until such time that we get it,’” she said.
“And they did keep their promise.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe thanked her “amazing, wonderful” husband Richard Ratcliffe for “tirelessly” campaigning for her, and her daughter Gabriella “for being very, very patient with mummy to be coming home,” but disagreed with her husband on his gratitude to the British government, which she said should have secured her release much sooner.
“I was told many, many times that, ‘Oh we’re going to get you home,’” she said.
“That never happened.”
She said this resulted in her finding it difficult to place trust in government officials, adding: “I mean, how many foreign secretaries does it take for someone to come home? Five?”
“What’s happened now should have happened six years ago,” she said.
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. He has also consistently and vigorously denied the allegations.
