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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Dominica Sanda & Jillian MacMath

The moment dad is reunited with five-year-old daughter as mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe remains jailed in Iran

The five-year-old daughter of a British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran has returned home to the UK after more than three years living in the Middle East.

Gabriella Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been living with her grandparents in Tehran since her mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested.

Nazanin, 38, was detained as she was trying to return to Britain with Gabriella after visiting family in Iran.

She has been held as a political prisoner and  sentenced to five years behind bars  for charges which have not been made public.

But on Thursday night, the five-year-old was reunited with her father, Richard Ratcliffe, who has family in Wales.

The father and daughter have spent three and a half years apart.

"Gabriella came back to us late at night, a bit uncertain seeing those she only remembered from the phone," Mr Ratcliffe said in a statement on Friday.

Gabriella had been living in Iran, where her mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained in Evin prison by the government since April 2016. (Handout/PA Wire)

"It has been a long journey to have her home, with bumps right until the end."

Gabriella's parents made the painful decision to bring her back from Iran so she can start school.

"It was a hard goodbye for Nazanin and all her family. But let us hope this homecoming unlocks another," Mr Ratcliffe said.

While in Iran, Gabriella visited her mother in the notorious Evin Prison when the authorities would allow her to do so.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in April 2016 and sentenced to five years in jail after being accused of spying, which she vehemently denies.

Gabriella has regularly visited her mother in prison in Iran. (The Free Nazanin campaign/PA Wire)

Labour's Tulip Siddiq said Gabriella's parents have made a decision that "no family" should have to make.

"It is heart-warming to see Gabriella reunited with her father after 1,300 days in Iran, but heart-breaking that she is separated from her mother Nazanin," Ms Siddiq said.

"Nazanin is at breaking point, and today is yet another reminder that she has been failed at the very highest levels of government."

Ms Siddiq called on Iran to end its "hostage diplomacy" and release Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

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