And I m rosa kings each week on the BBC world service. I look at one of the biggest issues in the news this time. It's as an easy, gory ratcliff fight for freedom that a normal family that a terrible things happen to you know he wants the people without the help of the british rights Victoria koran mitchell captures how one fund has become caught up in the profound tensions between iran and the. U k it's a story of two countries and of two cities into iran, the british turanian charity worker nasdaq, Zachary rackliff, has been detained since twenty. Sixteen in london, her husband richard, began a hunger strike in october and is making these demands in athens held over some debt money that the british government owes the iranians. She is not going to come

until I got paid. So that means we sorta didn't. They also need to be a lot tougher with iran and using innocent people, as hostages will look at that debt will look at what critics say, is a bronze hostage diplomacy and will assess the ukase actions too. because questions are being asked. His chewed up, siddique richard and as an ends, local mp he's been promised over and over again that the government's doing everything they can, but he hasn't seen any sort of comprehensive plan, any sort of strategy. The uk says it's doing all it can and while that's disputed, what is clear is the

no cost being paid to understand, what's happened and as a means of gary ratcliff. Let's look at a story from the start. She was on holiday. She is a british charity worker. She works for an organization that doesn't do anything in iran, spin to IRAN four times in the past two years, without any problems. That's richard ratcliffe in twenty six dame. He was responding with fury and astonishment to mezzanine being detained at the end of a trip to see her parents in tehran and while she went into custody their one year old daughter, gabriella was placed with her grandparents a couple of months later, Richard ratcliffe described what had happened. Why had no contact for a long time? She was kept in solitary confinement and after forty five days she was moved out of solitary confinement and she was allowed to call her family, the uk,

Government was involved by this point in august twenty. Sixteen then prime minister teresa may spoke to the van iranian president, Hassan rihanna. She raised concerns. It's about a number of cases of dual nationals in detention a month after that call Nazanin was jailed on secret charges and richard ratcliffe posed a question. Many were asking. I sent someone for five years and then not say what your sentence before them is just crazy by any legal system and it's a punishment without a crime. The iranians, hadn't detailed, the crime or any evidence against the mezzanine, but state tv reported she'd been jailed for spying and a key figure in the case response to this with the then foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, when you look at what nasa needs the gory rackliff was doing. She was superior teaching. People chosen was honest. This is Mister jones. In november twenty seventeen. These comments were quickly highlighted by IRAN and days later, Mister Johnson,

Sought to clarify them, saying mezzanine had indeed been on holiday, something her employer confirmed a few weeks later bars Johnson was to go to iran and meet the president. There. My colleague James robins, was reporting the iranians what britain to repay a long standing debt of around four hundred million pounds a way to do that without breaching sanctions also looks closer. Both sides say these issues are not linked to prisoner releases. Neither side made the debt central to nasa means case and the debt wasn't paid. Nor was she released. An early twenty eighteen, the array where insisting they wanted that to happen. His high made by Dana Chad, IRAN, zombie That's it that's a london at the time we are doing our best to talk to our judiciary and see what we can do for hair to use some of the provisions as humanitarian grounds to help here too

home for the uk and as an family, though their best was far from good enough. April, twenty eighteen, the The situation was to shift again I am announcing today that the united states will withdraw from the iranian nuclear deal. President trump walked away from the twenty Fifty nuclear deal which had been signed by IRAN, the? U S, the uk and other world powers, the already fragile relationship between IRAN and the west deteriorated it made dialogue on, all subjects including mezzanine harder efforts, though continued.

by twenty nineteen, boris Johnson had resigned as foreign secretary over breaks. It disagreements his replacement with jeremy hunt and he gave nasa mean diplomatic protection, which made this a formal dispute between the two countries which had rackliff welcome that move, but as an aim was not released and the family faced another heartbreaking moment, given Gabrielle, it was now old enough for school. I left tehran for the uk in october, twenty nineteen and as she did not, and he wrote an open letter that was smuggled out of prison. I have no hope or motivation. After my baby goes. She wrote The iranian authorities will unmoved in september last year they made. Then next move the british,

Iranian national nasa needs a gary ratcliff who was arrested in IRAN four years ago has been told she is to face a new trial. On sunday she appeared in court today on an unspecified new charge no details of the charge, no evidence offered, but the consequence of this was clear and sure enough. Another sentence was imposed and the uk was now explicit about how it characterized IRAN's actions. The foreign secretary was now Dominic rob and he spoke with my colleague Andrew ma in may issue being held hostage. You can't think it's very difficult to argue, since that car later on that day, there was another significant moment: the BBC's caroline wholly covered it as if to confer, that she is indeed a hostage state,

Television in round this afternoon reported that she would be freed. If the uk paid that four hundred million pan debt to understand this debt, we need to go back to the nineteen seventeen. The shore of iran ordered british tanks, but was then overthrown. the tanks weren't delivered an international court ruled in two thousand and nine. The uk owed four hundred million pounds. And in twenty nineteen. The guardian reported that, crucially, bring his time as foreign secretary Boris Johnson had brief, selected journalists that the money would be paid. Now that didn't happen, I'm one of the obstacles to settling this debt is actions on iran, but america settled a similar debt back in twenty sixteen j solomon work for the wall street journal at the time the money itself was set over on aeroplanes.

cash believe around one point: seven billion dollars: it was in euros and francs, it was not a dollars is that we believe to be a violation of the! U S, insisted this, wasn't a ransom detainees were released. This, though, is not the route the uk government has chosen, and it refused is to connect mezzanine release and this dead, his foreign office minister James cleverly, the conservation of bristol nationals, including most means, are erected and others is a completely separate issue. The former foreign secretary Jeremy hunt agrees and says this is precisely the reason to pay. This is no around for money it's a debt and international court has said so, and we should pay it because it is an irritant to relations and whether or not it should be linked to national case. The iranians certainly do make that linkage and while we consider all of that, remember too that iran has a new hardline president with his own agenda it's a pursue and the efforts are way to revive the

iran nuclear deal and to reset how iran and the west interact order. Explains why doesn't fate is tangled up in iranian politics and in iran, place in the world. The root out is complex, but diplomacy often is an afterthought. If he is, the uk hasn't found a way through this, and while these two countries, but we're on the world stage. Another returned isn't looms phenomenon and years, Emily life being lost. Thank you for listening. There will be more from the document she podcast soon. The document He is just one of our bbc world service podcast. There are many others, too cheese from he's, probably been hearing quite a bit about climate change recently, but I've got a little secret for climate change is not all about me princess about politicians in their promises and whether they actually follow through climate change, is about how we live our lives moment to moment now and in the future.

I am your resell and I'm one of the hosts of a podcast from the BBC world service called the climate question. Climate change is The burning issue of our time and its happening, whether it's in the news or not. So the climate question is therefore you every week asking tough questions in a spirit of adventure, discovery fun and I hope we tell our stories in detail with leading experts as you'd expect, but also with people surprise in locations around the world from the high arctic to tropical jungles, from shiny corporate offices to shanties smashed by storms. That's the climate question from the BBC world service search for the climate question. Where do you get your pockets.