Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe at airport about to head home, says British MP

British charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is at the airport in Tehran about to head home, her local British MP has said.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe had her passport returned to her by Iranian authorities on Tuesday.

Nazanin is at the airport in Tehran and on her way home.

I came into politics to make a difference, and right now I’m feeling like I have.

More details to follow. #FreeNazanin

— Tulip Siddiq (@TulipSiddiq) March 16, 2022

The dual British-Iranian citizen was arrested at Tehran's airport in 2016 while visiting her family and served four years in prison before being released on parole due to the pandemic.

"I am very pleased to say that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been given her British passport back," MP Tulip Siddiq said on Twitter. The British charity worker has been prevented from leaving Iran since her arrest in 2016.

“I also understand that there is a British negotiating team in Tehran right now. I will keep posting updates as I get them.”

Zaghari-Ratcliffe's daughter Gabriella returned from Iran to the United Kingdom in 2019 to go to school.

But Zaghari-Ratcliffe faced another year in prison and a ban on leaving the country after being charged in 2021 of spreading "propaganda".

Her lawyer Hojjat Kermani told the AP on Tuesday that she had received her British passport but was still banned from leaving Iran.

“We hope that these negotiations will be concluded soon,” he said.