Over the past few years, Iran has detained an increasing number of dual and foreign nationals on vague and unsubstantiated charges of espionage. This is part of an alarming trend in which these individuals are targeted and used as bargaining chips to further Iranian foreign policy interests. According to Human Rights Watch, Iranian authorities “have violated detainees’ due process rights and carried out a pattern of politically motivated arrests”.
This use of “hostage diplomacy” has fast become a normalised tool of Iranian statecraft. There are currently believed to be at least 12 dual and foreign nationals imprisoned in Iran. A recent investigation by BBC Panorama shed light on this practice, revealing how British dual nationals in Iranian prisons are being used as leverage to pressure the UK government into paying a £450 million arms debt from the 1970s.
ARBITRARY DETENTION AND DUE PROCESS VIOLATIONS
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has noted an emerging pattern of Iranian authorities arbitrarily detaining dual and foreign nationals, and has called for the immediate release of those concerned. These include Kamran Ghaderi, Robert Levinson, Siamak and Baquer Namazi, Aras Amiri, and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Just last month, Iran announced the incarceration of two more dual-nationals, Shahram Shirkhani and Masud Mosaheb, who are the most recent to be sentenced for spying.
In 2018, Human Rights Watch reviewed the cases of 14 dual or foreign nationals arrested by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) intelligence organisation, compiling evidence from former detainees, lawyers, family members, and Iranian policy experts. They found a shocking lack of evidence for accusations of spying and espionage, with the majority charged with “cooperating with hostile states” based on misrepresented connections with various legitimate institutions.
The review found a systematic denial of legal counsel to detainees, particularly during the investigation phase, amounting to serious due process violations. As a result, coerced confessions are often used as evidence in revolutionary courts such as in the cases of Ahmadreza Fjalali and Morad Tahbaz, who allege they were subjected to torture.
BARGAINING CHIPS FOR THE IRANIAN REGIME
A number of countries have struck bilateral agreements in recent years for the release of prisoners, indicating murkier motives behind the arrests. American student Xiyue Wang was released last December in a prisoner exchange despite being sentenced to 10 years in 2017 for espionage. Mr. Wang claims he was told by Iranian officials that he was needed for a deal with America.
Most recently, Michael White, a US Navy veteran, was released from detention in an apparent prisoner swap for Sirous Asgaria, an Iranian science professor. According to Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at HRW, “Iran’s security apparatus, has apparently made the despicable decision to use these individuals as bargaining chips to resolve diplomatic disputes.”
PRESSURE MOUNTS ON UK GOVERNMENT
British dual nationals have become a particular target of this practice, with at least eight currently imprisoned in Iran. A recent BBC Panorama revealed how this is linked to a £450 million arms debt that the UK owes Iran from the 1970s.
According to their families, British-Iranian dual nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anousheh Ashouri have been told by Iranian officials that the payment of the debt holds the key to their release. Nazanin was arrested in April 2016 whilst visiting her family in Iran with her then two-year old daughter and sentenced to five years in prison on vague national security charges. Nazanin’s husband Richard Ratcliffe has criticised the UK government for its dual failure to be honest about Nazanin’s status as a hostage and settle the debt.
In a positive development for the families of detainees, last week Defence Secretary Ben Wallace admitted for the first time that the UK owes the debt and is actively seeking to pay it. However, the UK government are understandably hesitant to be seen backing down under Iranian pressure as it may set a dangerous precedent on the payment of ransoms.
Payment of the debt as part of a resetting of diplomatic relations that recognises the importance of human rights may be the most promising pathway to a breakthrough in what MP Tulip Siddiq has called a “murky and ultimately inadequate approach” taken thus far by British diplomats. Ultimately, a multilateral approach is needed to put political and economic pressure on Iran to stop this practice, or dual and foreign nationals will continue to be at risk of arbitrary detention.
Archie is an incoming MA Conflict, Security and Development student at University of Exeter. Recently, he completed his BA International Relations there. He is particularly interested in ethno-sectarian conflict in the Middle East, Islamist movements and the language of political violence. Archie has aspirations to work as a political risk analyst or as a civil servant.