LONDON: British-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been detained in Iran for nearly six years, is at Tehran’s airport to leave the country, a UK lawmaker said Wednesday.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was given back her British passport over the weekend, raising hopes that her long ordeal was coming to a close.

“Nazanin is at the airport in Tehran and on her way home,’’ lawmaker Tulip Siddiq tweeted. “I came into politics to make a difference, and right now I’m feeling like I have.’’

There was no immediate report on Iranian state media on Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s apparent release. A lawyer representing Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Tehran couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had confirmed earlier that a negotiating team was at work in Tehran to free Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Johnson’s comments were made on a visit to the Middle East. But family members had been wary, having often had their hopes dashed at the last moment.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe served five years in prison after being taken into custody at Tehran’s airport in April 2016. She was later convicted of plotting the overthrow of Iran’s government, a charge that she, her supporters and rights groups deny.

She has been held under house arrest and unable to leave the country since her release.

(Developing story)