The wife of a British-Iranian man being held in Tehran urges the government in London to “pay their debt” and secure his release after his latest appeals were turned down.
Anoosheh Ashoori, a 67-year-old retired engineer from south London, was arrested in August 2017 while visiting his mother and jailed for 10 years on charges of spying for Israel.
His wife Sherry Izadi says she has been told by the British government that his detention is related to a British debt of £400 million ($550 million) owed to Iran.
Tehran told Ashoori’s family on Saturday that the Supreme Court appeal against his conviction had been rejected, as had his application for conditional release, which he was eligible for having served a third of his sentence.
“We thought there may be a small chance, so that was a bigger blow,” Sherry Izadi said of the decision not to grant him conditional release.
“He’s a good prisoner, he’s not a murderer, he’s not a rapist, he’s just an innocent man in prison,” she told AFP.
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From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
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