Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has lost her latest appeal against her sentence in Iran, meaning she could be sent back to prison “at any time”, her MP has said.
Labour’s Tulip Siddiq said the British-Iranian dual national’s sentence of one year plus a one-year travel ban has been “upheld with no court hearing”.
The Hampstead and Kilburn MP has urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to intervene in the case.
Ms Siddiq tweeted: “Just spoke to my constituent Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard.
“Nazanin has lost her latest appeal and her sentence of 1 year plus 1 year travel ban is upheld with no court hearing.
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“She could now be returned to prison at any time. The PM must act now to #FreeNazanin.”
Just spoke to my constituent Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard.
Nazanin has lost her latest appeal and her sentence of 1 year plus 1 year travel ban is upheld with no court hearing.
Ms Siddiq later said: “This is yet another piece of devastating news for my constituent, her family and the millions around the world who care about her. For Nazanin to face a return to prison after the ordeal she’s been through is nothing short of a catastrophe.
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“It seems that every time we dare to hope that Nazanin might soon be free, there is another dreadful setback that puts freedom out of sight. Whatever the prime minister has been doing to free Nazanin is clearly not working.
“It’s time for the UK government to pay the debt we owe to Iran, stand up to their despicable hostage taking and finally get Nazanin home.”
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been in custody in the country since 2016 after being accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
She was taking her daughter Gabriella to see her family when she was arrested and was sentenced to five years in prison shortly afterwards, spending four years in Evin Prison.
She spent the final year of her sentence under house arrest in Tehran, but after her release this year was convicted of “spreading propaganda against the regime”.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family have reportedly been told by Iranian authorities that she is being detained because of the UK’s failure to pay an outstanding £400m debt to Iran.
She is one of several people with British or dual-British nationality detained in Iran.
Her husband Richard Ratcliffe, Ms Siddiq and Amnesty International have been campaigning for her release for several years.
Image: Richard Ratcliffe and daughter Gabriella protest outside the Iranian embassy in London
Amnesty International UK chief executive, Sacha Deshmukh, said: “This is terrible news and is just more torment on top of five-and-a-half years of suffering for Nazanin and her family.
“Nazanin was subjected to a deeply unfair original trial, was rushed through a farcical second court process and is now confronted by more time behind bars – it’s absolutely excruciating to see this happening.
“We’ve said repeatedly that Boris Johnson, (Foreign Secretary) Liz Truss and others in government need to genuinely step up on Nazanin’s case and other cases where British nationals are being persecuted in Iran.
“We want to see action urgently, and this must include the government setting out a clear strategy for securing the release of all British nationals unlawfully held in Iran.”
Last month, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss met her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian at the UN General Assembly, where she “pressed” him on the issue and vowed to “continue to press” him on the issue until Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe returns home.
The Foreign Office has been contacted by Sky News for comment.
Any remaining residents in Gaza’s largest city should leave for a designated area in the south, Israel’s military has warned.
Israeli forces are carrying out an offensive on suburbs of Gaza City, in the territory’s north, as part of plans to capture it – raising concern over an already-devastating humanitarian crisis.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced pressure to stop the attack and allow more aid in, the military has announced a new humanitarian zone in the south.
Spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Gaza City residents should head to a designated coastal area of Khan Younis.
There, he said they would be able to receive food, medical care and shelter.
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On Thursday, Israel said it has control of around 40% of Gaza City and 75% of the entire territory of Gaza.
Many of the city’s residents had already been displaced earlier in the war, only to return later. Some of them have said they will refuse to move again.
That’s despite the military claiming it is within a few kilometres of the city centre, coming after weeks of heavy strikes.
But the war in Gaza has left Israel increasingly isolated in the diplomatic sphere, with some of its closest allies condemning the campaign that’s devastated the territory.
Just two weeks ago, a famine was declared in Gaza City and surrounding areas by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a globally recognised system for classifying the severity of food insecurity.
Image: A resident runs with his belongings in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
There is also concern within Israel, where calls have grown to stop the war and secure the release of the remaining 48 hostages.
Israel believes 20 of those hostages are still alive.
Even as relatives of those hostages lead protests, Mr Netanyahu continues to push for an all-or-nothing deal to release all hostages and defeat Hamas.
On Friday, Donald Trump said Washington is in “very deep” negotiations with Hamas to release the captives.
“We said let them all out, right now let them all out. And much better things will happen for them but if you don’t let them all out, it’s going to be a tough situation, it’s going to be nasty,” he added.
Hamas is “asking for some things that are fine”, he said, without elaborating.
A man was heard screaming in the water moments before he died after a shark attack in Sydney, witnesses have said.
Emergency services responded to reports that a man in his 50s had suffered critical injuries at Long Reef Beachshortly after 10am (1am in the UK) on Saturday.
The man, whose identity has yet to be confirmed, was brought to shore but died at the scene, authorities have said.
Two sections of a surfboard have been recovered and taken for examination, and beaches near the area are closed as drones search for the animal.
Police are liaising with wildlife experts to determine the species of shark involved.
Image: Pic: Sky News Australia
Surfer screamed ‘don’t bite me’
Speaking to Sky News Australia, witness Mark Morgenthal said he saw the attack and that the shark was one of the biggest he had ever seen.
“There was a guy screaming, ‘I don’t want to get bitten, I don’t want to get bitten, don’t bite me,’ and I saw the dorsal fin of the shark come up, and it was huge,” Mr Morgenthal said.
“Then I saw the tail fin come up and start kicking, and the distance between the dorsal fin and the tail fin looked to be about four metres, so it actually looked like a six-metre shark.”
Image: Mark Morgenthal said it ‘looked like a six metre shark’ in the attack. Pic: Sky News Australia
Victim was a father and experienced surfer
New South Wales Police Superintendent John Duncan said at a press conference that the victim was 57 years old, calling the incident a “terrible tragedy”.
“The gentleman had gone out about 9.30 this morning with some of his friends, about five or six of his mates,” he added. “He’s an experienced surfer that we understand.
“Unfortunately, it would appear that a large, what we believe to be a shark, has attacked him. And as a result of that, he lost a number of limbs.
“His colleagues managed to make it back to the beach safely, and a short time later, his body was found floating in the surf, and a couple of other people went out and recovered it.”
Mr Duncan added that officers “understand he leaves behind a wife and a young daughter… and obviously tomorrow being Father’s Day is particularly critical and particularly tragic”.
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Two of the three Britons killed in the Lisbon funicular crash have been named.
Kayleigh Smith, 36, and William Nelson, 44, were a couple and died alongside 14 others in Wednesday’s incident.
Ms Smith graduated from the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester, where Mr Nelson ran the master’s degree in directing.
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3:53
Lisbon crash: What happened?
The identity of the third British victim has not yet been confirmed.
MADS theatre in Macclesfield, Cheshire, said Ms Smith was a “valued member of our society” who will be “greatly missed”.
It said she was an award-winning director and actress, who had also done multiple crew and front-of-house roles.
Five Portuguese citizens died when the packed carriage plummeted out of control – four of them workers at a charity on the hill – but most victims were foreigners.
Police said the other fatalities were two Canadians, two South Koreans, one American, one French citizen, one Swiss and one Ukrainian.
All but one were declared dead at the scene – and 21 others in the packed carriage were injured.
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2:50
‘We felt no brakes anymore’
The yellow carriages of the Gloria funicular are a big draw for tourists, as well as a proud symbol of the Portuguese capital.
The journey is just 265m (870ft) up a steep hill and takes three minutes, with two carriages travelling in opposite directions on a linked cable.
Witnesses reported seeing one of the carriages hurtle down the hill before derailing and crashing 30m from the bottom.
The aftermath shows it crumpled and twisted against the side of a building.
People who were in the bottom carriage said they were a few metres into the climb when it started going backwards.
When they saw the other car speeding towards them, many jumped through the windows to escape.
Image: The crash happened around 6pm on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro called the crash “one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past” and authorities are under intense pressure to quickly identifying the cause.