Watchdog

A British-Iranian woman released from a prison in Tehran last week has appealed for the release of another prisoner, Morad Tahbaz, whose family says is now on a hunger strike after being left out of the deal that brought her and another dual national home.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe told journalists on March 21 that her relief at being released following six years of detention in Iran was tempered by reports that Morad Tahbaz, an environmentalist who holds British, U.S., and Iranian passports, was again being held by authorities after temporarily being furloughed.

“I believe that the meaning of freedom is never going to be complete as to such time that all of us who are unjustly detained in Iran are reunited with our families,’’ she said at a news conference where Tahbaz’s daughter was present.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, a British-Iranian retiree, arrived back in Britain on March 17 after being released a day earlier.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was taking her daughter to see her family in 2016 when she was arrested and convicted of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She was sentenced to five years in jail and spent four of those years in Tehran's notorious Evin prison and one under house arrest.

Ashoori was sentenced in 2019 to 10 years in prison after being convicted of spying for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and another two years for "acquiring illegitimate wealth."

Both have denied any wrongdoing.

The release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori was reached as world leaders try to revive the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear pact. Negotiations on renewing the deal have stalled over Russia’s demand that its trade with Iran be guaranteed amid massive sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

After the release of the two prisoners, British officials said they had resolved what they called a parallel issue -- repaying a 400 million pound ($526 million) debt to Iran dating back to 1979 due to an unfulfilled purchase of tanks.

On the same day Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori were released, Tahbaz, who was arrested in January 2018 during a crackdown on environmental activists, gained his freedom as well.

However, the British Foreign Ministry said Tahbaz was taken back to prison on March 18 to be fitted with a tracking bracelet.

Tahbaz's daughter, Roxanne, told the March 21 news conference that since then her father's whereabouts have been unclear and that "we've only just found out...that he's been returned to the prison."

Tahrane Tahbaz, Morad's sister, said in an interview with the BBC that she hasn't heard from her brother since he was taken back into custody.

"We have heard through a relative just a few hours ago that he's been taken from the prison...to an undisclosed location and that he's gone on hunger strike," she added.

"Frankly, for four years we were led to believe that he would be part of the deal when it was made," she said. "And that's what we were told. And the deal was made, the money was paid...And he wasn't part of the deal -- and he's still there -- and we're very worried."

KALININGRAD, Russia -- A freelance journalist who formerly worked with RFE/RL's North.Realities in the city of Kaliningrad has been summoned to the prosecutor's office over her online articles.

Yulia Paramonova told RFE/RL that officers questioned her on March 21 in relation to an extremism case, although she says they did not clarify any details of the case.

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"They asked me how long I worked [for North.Realities], what materials I published, stressing the political issues my materials covered. I told them that I mainly covered news and wrote longer items that derived from the news, which were of a social, economic, and political nature," Paramonova said, adding that the officers declined to explained exactly why she was being questioned.

Paramonova informed the officers that she had stopped working as a freelance correspondent for North.Realities as of March 1.

She was also asked about salaries and honorariums of journalists working for RFE/RL, a question she refused to answer, citing the country's constitution.

The officers mentioned that she worked for a media outlet that had been officially added to the so-called "foreign agents" list, Paramonova said.

"I think that they are working on a list of 'national traitors,' enemies of the people. My lawyer and I must be on that list," Paramonova said.

Several media outlets reported on March 21 that a former correspondent at another RFE/RL online project, Siberia.Realities, was detained on unknown charges. Andrei Novashov was detained after his home was searched in the Siberian city of Kemerovo.

The clampdown on media and journalists has intensified across Russia after Kremlin unleashed war in Ukraine on February 24.