Britain will give diplomatic protection to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman jailed in Tehran since 2016, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Thursday.



The status means her case will become a formal international legal matter between Iran and Britain.

Read more: 'Born in Evin': Processing the trauma of the Iranian Revolution

"I have today decided that the UK will take a step that is extremely unusual and exercise diplomatic protection," Hunt said in a statement.

"This represents formal recognition by the British government that her treatment fails to meet Iran's obligations under international law and elevates it to a formal state to state issue."

Iran's Islamic Revolution 40 years on 'I feel nothing' On February 1, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran from exile in France. When a reporter asked him how he felt upon his return to Iran, Khomeini replied: "Nothing — I feel nothing." Some analysts interpreted his remarks as the Shiite leader's idea about embarking on a "divine mission" where emotions hardly mattered.

Iran's Islamic Revolution 40 years on The Shah ran out of time Two months before Khomeini's return to Iran, an estimated six to nine million people took to the streets in the country's major cities. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, compared to the violent September 8, 1978, protests. The Shah regime, headed by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, had realized that its time in power was over and that they could not stop Khomeini's return.

Iran's Islamic Revolution 40 years on Even women rooted for Khomeini The revolutionary mood was so intense in Tehran that even many women celebrated Khomeini's return, ignoring the fact that Khomeini had slammed Shah's measures for women's emancipation in exile. In 1963, the Shah of Iran granted women the right to vote.

Iran's Islamic Revolution 40 years on A spectacle of exuberance In 1971, the Shah and his wife Farah Diba (seen in the picture) staged a lavish spectacle on the ancient site of Persepolis to mark the "2,500th anniversary of the Iranian monarchy." Many heads of state attended the event. Khomeini, in his message from exile, condemned the monarchy as "cruel, evil and un-Islamic."

Iran's Islamic Revolution 40 years on Exile and death Under pressure from the Islamic Revolution, the Shah (left) had left Iran on January 16, 1979. After spending time in several countries, he succumbed to cancer on July 27, 1980 in Cairo, Egypt.

Iran's Islamic Revolution 40 years on Consolidating power In the beginning, women's rights were not a major issue for the Islamic revolutionaries. They only imposed hardline Islam after consolidating their victory.

Iran's Islamic Revolution 40 years on Soldiers join the revolution Upon Khomeini's return to Iran in 1979, the military did not confront the protesters. On February 11, the army declared itself neutral. Despite that, the revolutionaries executed several generals in February and April.

Iran's Islamic Revolution 40 years on New government Soon after his return, Khomeini declared the monarchy, the previous government and parliament illegal, and said he would appoint a government "because of the fact that this nation believes in me." According to Iran experts, it was not self-deception but reality.

Iran's Islamic Revolution 40 years on The liberal face of the revolution Mehdi Bazargan, a scholar and pro-democracy activist, had campaigned against the Pahlavi dynasty, for which he had been incarcerated for several years. Khomeini appointed him as his first prime minister, although Bazargan was critical of him as well. Bazargan had called Khomeini a "turbaned Shah" after a meeting with the Ayatollah in Paris. He remained in office for only nine months.

Iran's Islamic Revolution 40 years on Occupation of the US Embassy In November 1979, radical Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took the embassy staff hostage. The students were fearful of Shah's return to power with US help. Khomeini took advantage of the situation. He dismissed his opponents as "US allies."

Iran's Islamic Revolution 40 years on Ali Khamenei – guardian of the revolution In 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was elected by the expert council to succeed Khomeini. Khamenei, to this date, has the ultimate power over all state institutions. Although the 79-year-old does not have the same charisma as his predecessor, he represents the policies of Iranian hardliners who refuse to reform the system and continue to persecute dissidents. Author: Hans Spross



'Nazanin is innocent'

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the media group's philanthropic arm, was arrested at Tehran airport in April 2016 as she was returning to Britain with her young daughter after a family visit.

She was sentenced to five years in prison in September 2016 for allegedly plotting against Iran's clerical establishment. The UK government, Thomson Reuters Foundation and Zaghari-Ratcliffe have denied the allegations.

Hunt recognized that granting diplomatic protection "is unlikely to be a magic wand that leads to an overnight result."

"But it demonstrates to the whole world that Nazanin is innocent and the UK will not stand by when one of its citizens is treated so unjustly," he said.

Read more: Jason Rezaian: Free speech in Iran still an 'uphill battle'

Zaghari-Ratcliffe went on hunger strike earlier this year and has suffered from health problems.

"We have been working hard to secure her release but despite repeated efforts have not been successful. We have not even been able to secure her the medical treatment she urgently needs despite assurances to the contrary," Hunt said.

"No government should use innocent individuals as pawns for diplomatic leverage so I call on Iran to release this innocent woman so she can be reunited with her family."

The British government has sought Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release for several years, and her husband has lobbied top officials to make her case a priority.

cw/cmk (AFP, AP, Reuters)

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