Channel 4 has commissioned a new documentary film titled Nazanin, following Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and husband Richard over his six-year campaign to free her from detention in Iran.
The announcement of the “definitive exclusive access” film comes two days after the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe, as she returned to the UK to her husband and daughter on 16th March.
The film, which will air later this year, promises “a privileged view of the family in London during the final tense, dramatic days, as a specialist British Foreign Office negotiating team in Tehran wrangle with the Revolutionary Guards over the price for her freedom”.
“For the first time, we will see the inner workings of this drama through the eyes of those actually caught up in it: Richard Ratcliffe, his young daughter Gabriella – and from Nazanin herself whilst detained in Iran,” the synopsis reads.
“Nazanin is an intimate access driven documentary – part love story, part political thriller. It has a human story with a big heart and mixes original, observational filming with never before seen material filmed by Nazanin herself about her ordeal.”
In 2016 Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to five years in jail in Iran for “membership of organisations working against the Iranian state” – claims which she has always strongly denied, and her husband Richard has campaigned ever since to secure her freedom and return to the UK.
The case made national news the following year when then-foreign secretary Boris Johnson was criticised for incorrectly stating that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was “simply teaching people journalism” in Iran prior to her arrest, prompting accusations that it complicated her legal case.
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