Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian dual national, has been temporarily released from Evin prison on Tehran, but will be required to wear an ankle brace and not move more than 300 metres from her parents’ home.

Her two-week release came after weeks of family and diplomatic pressure on the Iranian judicial authorities to accept she was in vulnerable position in jail as the threat of coronavirus spread through Iran’s prison system.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to five years in jail in 2016, and had been granted furlough once before.

The Iranian judiciary said it had so far released 85,000 prisoners, half of whom were political prisoners.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Zaghari-Ratcliffe wearing an ankle tag in west Tehran following her release from prison. Photograph: Free Nazanin campaign/AFP via Getty Images

In a statement released by her family, Zaghari-Ratcliffe said: “I am so happy to be out. Even with the ankle tag, I am so happy. Being out is so much better than being in – if you knew what hell this place is. It is mental. Let us hope it will be the beginning of coming home.

“My thinking is that they want to keep me, but outside of prison until they sort out this thing. But to be honest, I just want to go home. I think they are showing a good gesture, as they are hoping to strike a deal. So they want to keep me out. If the deal won’t happen, then they will drag me back in. But if it does, then they will let me go from here.”

Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, who has been campaigning for her release, told the Guardian he cautiously welcomed the temporary furlough until 4 April – four years and a day since her first imprisonment – but said it was still unknown what her long-term prospects were.

Ratcliffe said: “Her health has improved. I’m pretty certain she had coronavirus and she was ill for two weeks but she’s recovered. The last week the conversation has been really stressed on whether she would come out. At our end they felt like they were just playing a game.”

He said his wife had spoken to their daughter, Gabriella. “We waited to tell everyone until she was back home from school. Gabriella’s cheerful, she took the phone round her dollies and her teddy bears. The contact will be better too as at her parents’ home she can talk over Skype. The phone won’t cut out every 30 seconds.”

The UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, spoke to the Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, on Monday, but in the Commons on Tuesday gave no indication Zaghari-Ratcliffe was about to be released.

In a statement, Raab said he was relieved by her release, adding: “We urge the regime to ensure she receives any necessary medical care. While this is a welcome step, we urge the government now to release all UK dual nationals arbitrarily detained in Iran, and enable them to return to their families in the UK.”

Zaghari-Ratcliffe is the only prisoner granted furlough in the last few weeks (more than one third of the women’s ward) who has been forced to wear an ankle tag limiting her movements. Indeed none of the prisoners remember this having happened to a political prisoner before.

Timeline Imprisonment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran Show Hide Arrest in Tehran Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is arrested at Imam Khomeini airport as she is trying to return to Britain after a holiday visiting family with her daughter, Gabriella. Release campaign begins Her husband, Richard Radcliffe, delivers a letter to David Cameron in 10 Downing Street, demanding the government do more for her release. Sentenced She is sentenced to five years in jail. Her husband says the exact charges are still being kept a secret. Hunger strike Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's health deteriorates after she spends several days on hunger strike in protest at her imprisonment. Appeal fails Iran’s supreme court upholds her conviction. Boris Johnson intervenes Boris Johnson, then Foreign Secretary, tells a parliamentary select committee "When we look at what [she] was doing, she was simply teaching people journalism". Four days after his comments, Zaghari-Ratcliffe is returned to court, where his statement is cited in evidence against her. Her employers, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, deny that she has ever trained journalists, and her family maintain she was in Iran on holiday. Johnson is eventually forced to apologise for the "distress and anguish" his comments cause the family. Health concerns Her husband reveals that Zaghari-Ratcliffe has fears for her health after lumps had been found in her breasts that required an ultrasound scan, and that she was now “on the verge of a nervous breakdown”. Hunt meets husband New Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt meets with Richard Ratcliffe, and pledges "We will do everything we can to bring her home." Temporary release She is granted a temporary three-day release from prison. Hunger strike Zaghari-Ratcliffe is on hunger strike again, in protest at the withdrawal of her medical care. Diplomatic protection The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, takes the unusual step of granting her diplomatic protection – a move that raises her case from a consular matter to the level of a dispute between the two states. Travel warning The UK upgrades its travel advice to British-Iranian dual nationals, for the first time advising against all travel to Iran. The advice also urges Iranian nationals living in the UK to exercise caution if they decide to travel to Iran. Hunger strike in London Richard Ratcliffe joins his wife in a new hunger strike campaign. He fasts outside the Iranian embassy in London as she begins a third hunger strike protest in prison. Hunger strike ends Zaghari-Ratcliffe ends her hunger strike by eating some breakfast. Her husband also ends his strike outside the embassy.

Moved to mental health ward According to her husband, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was moved from Evin prison to the mental ward of Imam Khomeini hospital, where Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have prevented relatives from contacting her. Daughter returns to London Zaghari-Ratcliffe's five year old daughter Gabriella, who has lived with her grandparents in Tehran and regularly visited her mother in jail over the last three years, returns to London in order to start school. Temporary release Amid the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, she is temporarily released from prison, but will be required to wear an ankle brace and not move more than 300 metres from her parents’ home. New charges Iranian state media reports that she will appear in court to face new and unspecified charges. In the end, a weekend court appearance on a new charge of waging propaganda against the state that could leave her incarcerated for another 10 years is postponed without warning, leading Zaghari-Ratcliffe to say "People should not underestimate the level of stress. People tell me to calm down. You don’t understand what it is like. Nothing is calm."

On Tuesday morning, Nazanin’s father was summoned to one of the branches of the judiciary to arrange the ankle tagging.

The family was charged 2.6m toman for the installation of Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s ankle tag. This included a deposit of 2.5m toman, and a monthly charge of 95,000 toman (approximately £20). The total sum is equivalent to just over half of her father’s monthly pension. After he paid the fee, his daughter was brought to the branch for processing.

“She was woken on Tuesday morning and told quickly to pack her bags for her departure, as she would not be returning to the ward from the tagging centre. Her cellmates helped her pack her bag,” the Free Nazanin campaign said.

“The goodbyes were overwhelming. Nazanin had spent yesterday making leather necklaces for her cellmates. This morning they were all wearing them as they said goodbye to her, along with some of the items of clothing she had given them as keepsakes. They also sang for her bridal songs as she left the ward, about a new bride going to a new home. This is the tradition in the women’s ward on the evening or morning before someone leaves. They all expressed their hopes that she would not be coming back.”

Wearing a tag means she is unable to visit shops, or indeed any of her relatives’ homes, and obviously the British embassy in Tehran. As Zaghari-Ratcliffe reflected, this meant her release was much closer to a house arrest than it was to regular furlough.