Letter to the new Foreign Secretary

With the appointment of a new Foreign Secretary this week, Stratford Amnesty Group are taking the opportunity to write to her regarding the continued detention in Iran of two dual nationals, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori. Our Chair has drafted the following text to be addressed to Liz Truss should members wish to do so, urging her to put pressure on the Iranian regime to release these unfairly detained individuals.

Please use your own words if you prefer or select from the following: 

'Dear Foreign Secretary,

Congratulations on your new role.

I know you have a meeting arranged with the Iranian foreign minister very soon and I do hope that you can make securing the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe your first victory in this office.

Previous foreign secretaries in the past five years have come into office speaking warm words of sympathy over Nazanin’s treatment at the hands of the Iranian government, but none of them was prepared to address the issue seriously or take realistic action to secure her release.

During that period, the US, Australian and French governments have negotiated successfully to bring home their citizens held hostage in Iran. The UK government’s failure to free Nazanin, or Anoosheh Ashoori, another British Iranian hostage,  reduces our standing in the eyes of the world. What the world sees is that the British government either feels too weak or cares too little  to protect its citizens to whom it owes a duty of care. This shames us all. The Iranian government’s policy of hostage-taking for political ends is iniquitous and utterly inhumane, but the British government’s negligent failure to take effective action compounds the crime.

You have a reputation for getting things done. I hope very much that, where your predecessors have failed, you can get this done.

Yours sincerely'

The Foreign Office address is: fdco.correspondence@fdco.gov.uk or for Liz Truss: Elizabeth.truss.mp@parliment.uk or the postal address is: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AH