Zaghari-Ratcliffe calls for end to indefinite jail terms

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has called for new justice secretary David Lammy to “end arbitrary detention” in Britain as she voices support for the thousands trapped in abolished indefinite jail terms.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN C

The dual British-Iranian national, who made worldwide headlines after she spent almost six years detained in Iran, has described imprisonment for public protection (IPP) jail terms as “fundamentally wrong”.

The open-ended punishments - which have been branded inhumane by the UN – were abolished in 2012, but not retrospectively. Almost 2,500 people are still languishing in British jails without a release date.

Victims of the scandal, whose tragic cases have been highlighted by The Independent, include: Leroy Douglas, who has served almost 20 years for robbing a mobile phone; Thomas White, 42, who set himself alight in his cell and has served 13 years for stealing a phone; and Abdullahi Suleman, 41, who is still inside 19 years after he was jailed for a laptop robbery.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was finally freed in 2022 following years of diplomatic negotiations and the British payment of a £400m debt to Iran, said Mr Lammy promised to help those arbitrarily detained overseas when he was foreign secretary.

“Now he is justice secretary, I hope he will take that commitment to ending arbitrary detention at home,” she told The Independent ahead of a panel event on the jail terms at the Labour conference.