Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe expecting to go back to prison as her husband accuses British government of 'playing with fire'

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe expects to return to prison soon after losing an appeal over a second sentence, prompting her to accuse the British government of “playing with fire”.

Currently under house arrest at her parents’ home in Tehran after serving a full five-year prison sentence on espionage charges, Ms Zaghari Ratcliffe was sentenced to another year of imprisonment and an additional yearlong travel ban on separate charges in April.

The British-Iranian aid worker’s appeal against the new sentence was suddenly denied on Saturday after a hearing.

“It was all quite shock and awe, we had not had any news on the case in months”, her husband Richard Ratcliffe told The Telegraph.

The 43-year-old has not yet received a formal summons to return to prison, but her husband said that “it is a signal to the British government that they will send her back soon”.

He said Ms Zaghari Ratcliffe was “shaken” at the possibility of having to return to prison, where her treatment has previously been described by rights groups as torture.

“We’re looking to see what steps the government will take next, but talk is cheap at this point”, Mr Ratcliffe said.

A medical evaluation carried out for the human rights charity Redress recently found Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and obsessive stress disorder due to "traumatising experiences in the prisons of Iran" and the uncertainty about her fate.

Alongside other imprisoned dual-nationals, the family of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe have been repeatedly told that her imprisonment relates to a £400 million debt to Iran that the UK refuses to pay or acknowledge. It is also believed to be linked to ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

An Iranian lawmaker on Sunday said Iran would resume nuclear talks in Brussels on Thursday, potentially giving the UK an opportunity to push harder on Nazanin’s release.

But Mr Ratcliffe said he had no faith in the Foreign Office’s approach to securing his wife’s release after five years of trying.

“Their strategy still seems to be one of managed waiting: waiting for Iran to re-engage on the nuclear deal, waiting for other stakeholders and wanting to link things in a much bigger sense,” he said.

“I can’t see anything they are doing to discourage Iran’s hostage taking,” he said.

“Nazanin wanted to say clearly to the foreign secretary that the government’s approach is playing with fire,” he added.

Commenting on the appeal’s failure, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Saturday said that “Iran’s decision to proceed with baseless charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is utterly unacceptable”.

“There are no credible grounds to continue to hold her and she must be released permanently. I will do all I can to help Nazanin and her family,” she added.

The Foreign Office declined to comment on Mr Ratcliffe’s latest comments.