Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe docudrama

[IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads]

Is anyone watching this?

Not really cosy Sunday evening viewing, but very interesting.

Completely

she worked as an administrator in a charity which had no business or operations in Iran

its clear to everyone she was visiting her homeland with a baby

You are quite correct, my wife is a dual nationality person, born in Iran, with both Iranian and UK passports. Her last trip there was in 2024 and every time she went, I was filled with dread. There is something which I found out at the time and both my wife and I thought that she was very unwise going to Iran. My wife is not politically active in any way, but Nazanin had been on anti regime protests out side the old Iranian embassy in London and she had been interviewed by BBC Persian. I travelled there in 1996, 2013 and 2018 and found it a fascinating place and the food and people amazing.

"A few months before the end of her five-year sentence, further charges were brought against her by the Iranian authorities. Charged with spreading propaganda against the government following her participation in a demonstration outside the Iranian embassy in London in 2009 and by giving an interview to the BBC Persian Service,"

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2021-0189/

”Charged with spreading propaganda against the government following her participation in a demonstration outside the Iranian embassy in London in 2009 and by giving an interview to the BBC Persian Service,"
None of that makes her a spy as some on here have alleged. I campaigned outside the South African Embassy for the release of Nelson Mandela I went on a CND rally when I was 16 and gave an interview to BBC about the then Thatcher government lets put it this way I wasn’t singing their praises. To make matters worse some of my family and their friends were members of the CP. None of this makes me a spy anymore that what Nazerin did makes her a spy.

It's clear to normal people. To others, the fact that she is a brown, Muslim woman means she must be guilty of something.

Spying in a country like Iran, with a baby in tow? That would make her one extraordinarily cold-blooded woman. Putting her parents and brother at risk too?

I would like to think and hope that this is not why posters on here are saying she’s a spy but you’re probably right which is exceedingly sad.
I really despair that people in 2025 are thinking like this.

Watched the final episode just now. I hope Nazanin never steps foot back in Iran, despite the declaration of love she made for her homeland. I can't believe she would remain loyal to a country that has treated her so horrifically tbh!

I started watching episode 2
What is it that she flushes down the toilet at the airport?

Good question!

Maybe she had written down negative things about the Iranian regime and didn't want to be caught with them?

I’m on episode two. Initial toughts

1. Boris Johnson. No words
2. it just have been so hard for Gabriella coming back to her dad in the uk only remembering him on video calls
3. are her parents still in Iran? Are they allowed to leave? She may never see them again?

I was thinking of her parents today actually. I was saying that if I was Nazanin, I would have brought them over to the UK. Her brother lives here now too, doesn't he?

I don't think she is a spy, but if you are going to travel to Iran as a dual national, then you have to be very careful about all your actions, because I have no doubt that the regime in Tehran, will be monitoring people in this country, at demonstrations and on social media. Two of my nephews who live in the US, make risky political comments on Facebook. If I were them, I would be very wary of returning to Iran anytime soon. I hope that there is regime change at some point in the near future, but unfortunately, after the Israeli and US attacks, I think that has simply hardened the resolve of the people in charge.

I don’t blame her for wanting to visit her home. The country she lived in for 30 years? Of course she wanted to see her parents

but what the hell were the Foremans? What were they thinking? Do people think they are spies?

It was her diary she was flushing

But she didn't flush everything she had written down. Just certain pages I thought.

Thank you. Yes, apologies for being snappy but I was really frustrated with the general ignorance on this thread and I am on my phone so can't attach articles or had the will to type out massive essays that no one takes a blind bit of notice of. Maybe I should have said womsplaining 🤣. Sorry x

Not seen it myself.

However you can love your country of birth (or residence) whilst hating the dictatorship or even an elected government that runs it.

I always record something I want to watch on my Sky box. The. It’s there when I want it & I don’t forget tbings I fancy.

That's all well and good. Love your homeland from afar. But don't go travelling there again when you can't be sure you'll be safe!

I just finished watching episode 4. What was the shocking little twist you are referring to at the end of episode 3?

Do you always have such problems distinguishing fact from fiction? It would serve you right if the Zaghari-Ratcliffes sued you for defamation.

I'm shocked at so much of the misinformation on this thread. She wasn't a "spy", just a normal woman visiting her parents so they could see her and their granddaughter.

She was used as a pawn by Iran to try and force the UK to pay the court ordered debt. Both governments were at fault. Nazanin was not.

As for not seeming "grateful" enough for the UK diplomacy which freed her, words fail me. She was freed because the UK finally paid the debt which had been outstanding for decades including her six years of imprisonment. Not to free her but because Putin had started a war and the UK had to make friends fast in the Middle East to ensure they could still get energy supplies. (Remember Nazanin wearing blue and yellow in support of Ukraine on her way back to the UK?) The UK government were quite happy to leave her incarcerated until it suited them. I think most of us would have found it difficult to muster up much gratitude after six years of avoidable imprisonment.

Yet plenty of people assume she must be dodgy because she's Asian and wasn't simpering and sobbing. I'm sure she was relieved and happy to be back with her family but she was angry about those wasted years when something could have been done much sooner.

Of course she couldn't openly criticise the Iranian regime after her release - there could have been repercussions for her elderly parents. Who she may never see again by the way.

I just hope the family can find peace after all this

Very well said @LadyGreySpillsTheTea and @honeylulu

The bit I found shocking was when the Revolutionary Guard proposed to send Nazanin back to the UK if she agreed to work for them in Iran!