Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's long fight for freedom
The New Statesman | UK politics and culture
The New Statesman
4.4 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2022
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been reunited with her family in Britain, having been imprisoned for years in Iran on charges of seeking to overthrow the country’s government, which she has always denied. Her release along with another dual citizen, Anoosheh Ashoori, came after the payment of a long withheld £450m debt owed by the British government to Iran.
Ailbhe Rea and Anoosh Chakelian discuss Richard Ratcliffe’s tireless campaign to free his wife, how a deal was finally achieved and why it took so long.
Then in You Ask Us a listener asks whether the post-austerity rise in UK borrowing to the highest level since the Second World War is down to the pandemic alone, or other factors.
If you have a question for You Ask Us, email [email protected]
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The New Statement podcast is sponsored by EDF, Britain's biggest generator of zero carbon electricity. |
| 0:07.0 | Through nuclear and renewables, EDF are working hard to keep future energy costs down for everyone |
| 0:12.9 | and cut UK carbon emissions to nothing. Now with EDF's go electric tariff, |
| 0:18.8 | you can charge your electric vehicle overnight during off-peak hours for under £10, |
| 0:23.4 | saving you cash and carbon while you sleep. Find out more at edfenergy.com. |
| 0:33.2 | Hi, I'm Anouche and I'm Alfa. On today's episode of the New Statement podcast, |
| 0:38.2 | we discuss the release of Nazanine Zagari Ratcliffe and you ask us, |
| 0:42.4 | after a decade of austerity, why is the government borrowing more? Is it down to the pandemic |
| 0:46.8 | or are there other factors? So after six years of detention in Iran, Nazanine Zagari Ratcliffe |
| 0:56.9 | has finally been reunited with her family, along with a fellow British Iranian detainee, Anouche |
| 1:03.1 | Assori, who was also finally released after five years in prison and taran. Now you interviewed |
| 1:09.2 | Richard when he was doing a hunger strike, I think last year it was it last year and it was |
| 1:14.1 | a really moving interview and I think it I think it's touched a lot of people because you asked him |
| 1:20.0 | things that perhaps he hadn't been asked about for years about his relationship and and how he |
| 1:25.5 | was feeling about the family dynamic. Can you tell me a bit about what he told you and what the |
| 1:29.7 | reunion reminded you of when you spoke to him? It was such a privilege, I'm sure you feel the |
| 1:34.6 | same way in it, that just sometimes you're really struck by what a privilege it is to be a journalist |
| 1:40.3 | and an interviewer because even though you're going to eventually relay the conversation that |
| 1:45.0 | you're having to thousands of readers, you just are really struck that you're the person who gets |
| 1:49.9 | to have that conversation and to be right in front of the person asking them, the kind of nosy |
| 1:54.8 | intimate questions and often having a really intimate conversation. So when I went to see Richard |
| 2:00.8 | Ratcliffe it was day 13 of his hunger strike on the steps of the foreign office and I'd seen him |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -1111 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The New Statesman, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The New Statesman and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.