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Original poster

Oh, Nazanin. How dignified you are.

520 replies

AnyFucker · 21/03/2022 13:12

Just seen a clip of the press conference she gave. How generous of her to share it with the daughter of a man still trapped in Iran.

How composed and articulate she is. Honestly, with so many fucking idiots in power, how do we keep the faith in the face of what happened to Nazanin.

OP posts:
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DuncinToffee · 24/03/2022 18:30

Anoosheh Ashoori will be on Sky tonight at 9pm

Beth Rigby
5 years ago he was a polite civil engineer from suburban south London. Then, on holiday in Iran, he was snatched from the street & imprisoned in what he calls "the valley of hell". A privilege to sit down with Anoosheh Ashoori in his only TV interview. Hear his story 9pm @SkyNews

SueSaid · 25/03/2022 09:19

@DuncinToffee

Anoosheh Ashoori will be on Sky tonight at 9pm

Beth Rigby
5 years ago he was a polite civil engineer from suburban south London. Then, on holiday in Iran, he was snatched from the street & imprisoned in what he calls "the valley of hell". A privilege to sit down with Anoosheh Ashoori in his only TV interview. Hear his story 9pm @SkyNews

I watched that. Same story as NZR. They seem to have either been brainwashed into blaming the FO for everything or is it part of their release to blame anyone but Iran.

I thought it was interesting that he said he wouldn't return. I mean of course not! it is a dictatorship, well known for taking political prisoners. However if it really was over an unpaid debt surely by their naive rationale it should now be fine. I just wish they'd stop being so gullible. He also wants to bring mono nationals back. How on earth could the FO assist there, surely the answer would be to get people protesting in Iran except they aren't allowed to are they.

I'm sorry for everything they endured but their anger is very misplaced.

JanisMoplin · 25/03/2022 09:21

Oh look at all these brown people being uppity!

DuncinToffee · 25/03/2022 09:40

‘Our Britishness came under question.’

Anoosheh Ashoori was detained in Iran for 5 yrs. Despite raising his family in this country, he tells @BethRigby he was denied support from the PM and was continuously asked ‘how British are you’.

Mr Ashoori praised civil servants working behind the scenes, naming Stephanie Al-Qaq, the director of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the Foreign Office, and Simon Shercliff, the ambassador to Iran.

news.sky.com/story/iran-detainee-anoosheh-ashoori-accuses-boris-johnson-of-opportunism-for-getting-in-touch-only-after-his-release-12574143

Saucery · 25/03/2022 10:36

There you go, credit given where it’s due and that’s not to the Pm or FS. Hard to to stick with the ‘they should be more GRATEFUL’ line when there he is, showing gratitude to the people who worked so hard to secure his release. Not that that will stop people telling untruths about his lack of gratitude to suit their own ends. Hmm

JassyRadlett · 25/03/2022 11:13

I watched that. Same story as NZR. They seem to have either been brainwashed into blaming the FO for everything or is it part of their release to blame anyone but Iran.

I mean, he actually praised FCDO officials (by name!) but don't let truth or facts get in the way of the narrative you're so determined to stick to.

He also wants to bring mono nationals back. How on earth could the FO assist there, surely the answer would be to get people protesting in Iran except they aren't allowed to are they.

Speaking of naivety, there is a huge lack of understanding of how diplomacy and IR can work here. Not saying that UK would make it a negotiating priority or red line, but the idea that it couldn't is as ridiculous as the idea that Nazanin and Anoosheh wouldn't be at risk if they returned to Iran based on their past dealings with the regime - or the idea that hostage diplomacy won't continue to be part of the Iranian playbook for other issues.

declutteringmymind · 25/03/2022 11:14

Stockholm syndrome? I'm no doctor but 5 years of listening to all sorts can re wire the neurones.

SueSaid · 25/03/2022 11:16

That's not helpful or even relevant janismoplin, I'd have said the same if Richard were accompanying them and was also detained.

I'll ask again. If the debt was the real reason for their incarceration why won't they ever (obviously) go back there on holiday? I'll answer for you. Because the Iranian regime uses whichever excuse it fancies to justify locking people up. This week a debt, next week accusations of being a spy or other vague reasons.

They take dual nationals hostage and use them as pawns, any visitor should know this. We know there are still people incarcerated if it were 'the debt' then they'd be released too.

I used to live and work in the Middle East many years ago and have friends out there. Would I visit? Not a chance. Even less so if I were a dual national.

They have every right to be angry at the treatment they received being incarcerated.

JassyRadlett · 25/03/2022 12:50

They have every right to be angry at the treatment they received being incarcerated.

They can be angry with multiple people or institutions at once.

Anoosheh Ashoori certainly didn't hold back on how much he suffered at the hands of Iran, and at his uncertainty that the Iranians wouldn't renege on the deal until they were out of Iranian airspace. He says very clearly 'at the same time as I was blaming those who captured us, I was blaming the British government, why don't you do anything about it.'

But equally his answer to questions about contact with the British government shouldn't have to be sanitised to make British people feel good about the way our institutions operated.

For the PM to write now after ignoring their appeals while he was in prison, both when he was FS and as PM? They should be grateful he wants a photo op now when they couldn't be arsed with him before, where so their letters went unanswered, and it was questioned whether he and his family were British enough, and that they refused to make it a diplomatic case? He seems particularly angry that his family was totally ignored until they were a useful photo op. I get that.

His mum is still in Iran. How about we all try being grateful that we live in a country where citizens can feel safe in criticising the shortcomings of our government and our institutions without fearing reprisals on our family, and where the blowback is no greater than the manufactured outrage of some blowhards on social media?

Lamujere · 25/03/2022 12:57

Her husbands face while she was talking. He clearly adores her. Not the point of this thread I know but it gave me a warm feeling. Which is rare nowadays.

DuncinToffee · 25/03/2022 13:01

news.sky.com/story/iran-detainee-anoosheh-ashoori-says-he-will-not-be-quiet-until-dual-nationals-in-iranian-prisons-are-free-12574026

More on the interview

But of course he shouldn't have visited his ill mother......

JassyRadlett · 25/03/2022 13:20

@DuncinToffee

news.sky.com/story/iran-detainee-anoosheh-ashoori-says-he-will-not-be-quiet-until-dual-nationals-in-iranian-prisons-are-free-12574026

More on the interview

But of course he shouldn't have visited his ill mother......

This also underlines the purpose in what he's trying to do here.

What good Will complaining about the Iranian government in the UK media do? What will it help to change or achieve?

His goal is to get others home. Nazanin has also said this. With that goal in mind, putting pressure on the UK a government and saying that no, actually, they didn't do absolutely everything they could at all the stages along the way, is a very clear and understandable strategy.

A good deal better than 'let's ignore how long it took for you to get there, or the mistakes made along the way, but celebrate that you eventually got there at all' approach.

SueSaid · 25/03/2022 13:32

'try being grateful that we live in a country where citizens can feel safe in criticising the shortcomings of our government and our institutions without fearing reprisals on our family, and where the blowback is no greater than the manufactured outrage of some blowhards on social media?'

Oh absolutely I am very grateful and they can of course criticise whomever they like. In this country. As I'm free to point out it shouldn't have come as any surprise that they were detained, sadly.

They perhaps should not focus on 'the debt' and the challenges the FO faced dealing with a dictatorship and actually admit the reason for incarceration could have been any reason, any reason at all.

Dual nationals returning to the countries they have left tend not to be overly welcomed by said dictatorship regimes.

JassyRadlett · 25/03/2022 14:20

They perhaps should not focus on 'the debt' and the challenges the FO faced dealing with a dictatorship and actually admit the reason for incarceration could have been any reason, any reason at all.

Did those challenges prevent them from responding to letters or phone calls? Did those challenges cause them to question a citizen's true Britishness?

Given that they were explicitly told it was about the debt, and they were released as part of the deal on paying the debt, a link to the debt doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility.

But regardless, they should be entitled to ask questions and make criticisms of the handling of their case given the clear links to hostage diplomacy in this and other cases.

HarrietPierce7 · 25/03/2022 14:36

JassyRadlett
"Did those challenges prevent them from responding to letters or phone calls? Did those challenges cause them to question a citizen's true Britishness?"

Exactly . And Anoosheh has every right to "not be quiet" as he stated several times in the interview, until Morad Tahbaz and other dual nationals are released.

EthelTheAardvark · 25/03/2022 16:54

As I'm free to point out it shouldn't have come as any surprise that they were detained, sadly.

And yet out seems ti gave cine as a syroruse ti the British government - otherwise no doubt they would have issued formal warnings beforehand.

HarrietPierce7 · 25/03/2022 17:34

EthelTheAardvark
ti gave cine as a syroruse ti it came as a surprise to 😂

MassDebate · 25/03/2022 21:38

I think you have mistagged me above @vivariumvivariumsvivaria. I have nothing but praise for Nazanin, and I am horrified by many of the comments on this thread when all I see is an incredibly dignified woman given all she’s been through.

EthelTheAardvark · 25/03/2022 22:16

And yet out seems ti gave cine as a syroruse ti the British government - otherwise no doubt they would have issued formal warnings beforehand.

Oops. Don't know how that happened Blush Should be "And yet it came as a surprise to ....".

DuncinToffee · 26/03/2022 11:20

There is an article in the Times about Moras Tahbaz but it is behind paywall so I can't read the whole article

‘Truss blatantly reneged on a deal to free my hostage father’
Morad Tahbaz remained locked up when two British-Iranians were freed by Tehran last week. He’s become a political pawn, his daughter tells Mario Ledwith

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/morad-tahbaz-iran-daughter-7drswd2mx?

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