Jailed Brit Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s five-year term in Iran is officially due to end tomorrow – but her husband fears it could be months more till she is released.
While her lawyer has battled to discover if and when she will be freed, the mum-of-one was said to be “jittery” and fearing “a last-minute trick”.
Speculation had grown that Nazanin, 43 – held since 2016 for allegedly plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, which she denies – could fly back as early as Monday.
But husband Richard told the Sunday People today: “We don’t know if Nazanin is going to be released yet.
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“The release process is normally last-minute, so judiciary letters to the prison or tagging office should have been received today.
“But Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told me this week, ‘We think we’re close but we don’t think it’s this weekend, if I’m being honest’.
“My takeaway was it could still be weeks or months, though he didn’t use those words.
"But he was talking about before the Iranian elections, which are in June.
"I told him, ‘If we go past this weekend we will need to do something. It’s a big deal if she’s not allowed to end her sentence. We can’t let it drift'.
"It could still happen within days.
The next few months are a realistic timeframe but beyond that, I think, all bets are off.”
Richard added: “Nazanin has been counting down the days.
"And our six-year-old daughter Gabriella has a calendar she has been crossing off the days on since Christmas.
"But she has picked up on the anxiety and is asking, ‘Is mummy coming home?’”
