When Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was reunited with her family for the first time in Britain after being detained in Iran for six years, she sobbed and told her daughter she was “so beautiful”.
The moment is captured in a Channel 4 documentary — broadcast on Thursday — as the 45-year-old charity worker, who was detained as part of a long-running dispute between Britain and Iran, marks a year since she returned home.
Daughter Gabriella, then aged seven, runs into Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe's arms after she drops to her knees in the emotional scenes.
She sobs and speaks to Gabriella as her husband Richard, who fought a public campaign to get her freed, kisses their daughter on the head and says: “Can you remember your Farsi?”
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe then stands up, not letting Gabriella go, and says: “I had better kiss daddy, too, you had better kiss daddy, too.”
She continues to look at her daughter as she says a few more words in Farsi, only for Gabriella to say: “I don’t understand.”
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe replies: “You are so beautiful.” Gentle laughter can be heard as Gabriella says: “I know.”
During this time, while they are standing, Mr Ratcliffe is kissing his wife’s forehead.
The emotional homecoming came in the early hours of March 17 last year after Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and another released British Iranian, Anoosheh Ashoori, a retired civil engineer, arrived at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to be reunited with their families.
Mr Ashoori was arrested in August 2017 while visiting his elderly mother in Tehran, and despite living in the UK for 20 years, was later convicted of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and sentenced to prison for 10 years.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe — in pictures
Amnesty International described their release and return as “the news we and their families had hoped for every day” since Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s arrest in 2016. The organisation added that it came after the pair had jointly spent more than 10 years being “unjustly detained” in Iran.
The documentary tells the story of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s detention in Iran and the campaign by her husband to get her home.
The dual British-Iranian citizen was detained on April 3, 2016 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps at Imam Khomeini Airport after a holiday visit with Gabriella to see her parents.
Iranian authorities alleged Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was plotting to topple the government in Tehran, but no official charges were ever made public.
She landed back in Britain in March 2022 after the UK agreed to settle a £400 million debt dating back to the 1970s, allowing Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe to be reunited with relatives.
Since her release, Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been getting used to family life but also showed support for women and girls who have faced harassment and abuse from the Iranian authorities.
Earlier this month, she and her husband took part in a roundtable meeting with 10 Iranian and Kurdish women human rights campaigners which was also attended by Labour leader Keir Starmer.
The event, which was convened jointly with Amnesty International UK, focused on the role of women in the protests across Iran that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody last year.
She died in September after being detained by the Iranian morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab incorrectly.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe cut her hair as a gesture of solidarity with the women protesting in Iran following Ms Amini’s death.
Tehran has detained a number of dual and foreign citizens in recent years.
The country has been rocked in recent months by anti-government protests seen as the biggest challenge to Tehran’s authority since the 1979 revolution.
Executions have taken place of people who have been convicted of charges linked to the protests following internationally criticised trials.
Profile of Foodics
Founders: Ahmad AlZaini and Mosab AlOthmani
Based: Riyadh
Sector: Software
Employees: 150
Amount raised: $8m through seed and Series A - Series B raise ongoing
Funders: Raed Advanced Investment Co, Al-Riyadh Al Walid Investment Co, 500 Falcons, SWM Investment, AlShoaibah SPV, Faith Capital, Technology Investments Co, Savour Holding, Future Resources, Derayah Custody Co.
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ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Honeymoonish
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Abu Dhabi traffic facts
Drivers in Abu Dhabi spend 10 per cent longer in congested conditions than they would on a free-flowing road
The highest volume of traffic on the roads is found between 7am and 8am on a Sunday.
Travelling before 7am on a Sunday could save up to four hours per year on a 30-minute commute.
The day was the least congestion in Abu Dhabi in 2019 was Tuesday, August 13.
The highest levels of traffic were found on Sunday, November 10.
Drivers in Abu Dhabi lost 41 hours spent in traffic jams in rush hour during 2019
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Key facilities
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- Premier League-standard football pitch
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Review: Tomb Raider
Dir: Roar Uthaug
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Daniel Wu, Walter Goggins
two stars
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
The biog
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Favourite Movie: Resident Evil
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Trivia: Was the voice of three characters in the Emirati animation, Shaabiyat Al Cartoon
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Specs
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Uefa Nations League: How it Works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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U19 World Cup in South Africa
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
UAE squad
Aryan Lakra (captain), Vriitya Aravind, Deshan Chethyia, Mohammed Farazuddin, Jonathan Figy, Osama Hassan, Karthik Meiyappan, Rishabh Mukherjee, Ali Naseer, Wasi Shah, Alishan Sharafu, Sanchit Sharma, Kai Smith, Akasha Tahir, Ansh Tandon
