Britain calls for release of Iranian hostages as it joins new initiative against ‘coercive diplomacy’

British-Iranian hostage Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (R) embracing her daughter Gabriella

Credit: Handout/AFP

Britain on Monday called for the immediate release of dual-nationals detained in Iran as it signed up to a Canadian-led international initiative to combat "coercive diplomacy". 

Fifty-eight countries including the United States, Australia, and virtually all 27 members of the European Union signed up to a declaration calling for the "end the practice of arbitrary arrest, detention or sentencing to exercise leverage over foreign governments" at a virtual ceremony on Monday. 

The eight-point declaration makes no mention of specific countries. However, many of the signatories have high-profile disputes with Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. None of those countries signed the declaration. 

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, said: "The use of arbitrary detention, particularly as a threat, or as a means to influence others, is cruel. It’s wrong. We continue, for example, to press for the immediate and permanent release of all arbitrarily detained dual British nationals in Iran."

He added: "We call on states to abide by their clear obligations, including under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations – including Iran, China and many others."

At least half a dozen British dual nationals have been jailed in Iran in what their families and the UK government say are fabricated charges. 

They include Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, a mother of one who was jailed on charges of seeking to undermine the regime, and Anoosheh Ashoori, a London businessman who was sentenced to 12 years for espionage in 2019. 

Richard Ratcliffe, Ms Zaghari Ratcliffe’s husband, has described the prisoners as victims of diplomatic hostage taking. He believes his wife’s detention is linked to a dispute over an unpaid debt that Iran wants Britain to pay. 

The British government does not officially acknowledge any link between Mrs Ratcliffe’s case and the debt. 

Canada also has disputes with Iran over Abdolrasoul Dorri Esfahani, an accountant and former adviser to the Iranian government who was arrested in Tehran in 2016. 

It has also accused China of "hostage diplomacy" over the arrest of two Canadians in 2018 after Canada arrested a Huawei Technologies Co Ltd executive on a US warrant. Beijing denies the two cases are linked. 

Other signatories included Ukraine, which accuses Russia of jailing about 100 of its citizens as effective hostages linked to the 2014 annexation of Crimea and war in Donbas.