Campaigners have sent the UK government a list of 10 Iranian officials who the activists insist should face sanctions for their role in taking hostages.
Richard Ratcliffe, whose wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe remains in Iran after being held in 2016 on disputed charges, on Sunday called for travel bans and asset freezes for the 10, who are all accused of roles in the hostage-taking process from seizure to prison abuse, propaganda and diplomatic wrangling.
The dossier filed with the UK is the first, with more expected in the coming weeks that will go to the US, EU and Canada calling for a multinational effort aimed at people involved in the operations.
The file includes details of sham trials, unlawful arrests, forced confessions and torture.
It is the work of lawyers and the families of more than 10 victims who have detailed their relatives’ experiences at the hands of the Iranian criminal justice system.
The families of the inmates want the governments to use so-called Magnitsky laws – designed to punish human rights abusers – as well as other Iran-focused sanctions' regimes.
The campaigners have declined to publicly identify the 10 because of security concerns. But the dossier comes as some world leaders prepare to gather in New York this week for a UN General Assembly pared down because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, the former head of the judiciary, will not attend but his foreign minister is scheduled to travel. Liz Truss, the UK’s new Foreign Secretary, will also travel.
She asked to speak to Mr Ratcliffe on Sunday after the dossier was sent to her department for consideration last week.
Her predecessor, Dominic Raab, had been confident of a breakthrough this year in the case of his Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is currently on bail and living at her parents’ Tehran home, and another British-Iranian, Anoosheh Ashoori, 67, a retired engineer serving 10 years in Evin jail on disputed charges of spying for Israel.
But campaigners decided to act after the diplomatic efforts came to nothing and a new Iranian government was elected under arch-conservative Mr Raisi, signalling a potentially tougher stance on the dual-citizen prisoner issue in the coming months.
The move also comes only days before the 2,000-day anniversary of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s detention at Tehran’s international airport as the charity worker prepared to fly home to London with her young daughter after seeing her parents.
Mr Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori’s family have linked their arrests with the failure of the UK to fulfil a £400 million ($549.6m) debt still owed to Iran after an arms deal with the former shah that was cancelled when he was ousted during the 1979 Revolution.
Mr Ratcliffe has talked about holding judges and jailers responsible for Iran’s hostage-taking industry for years but the families, working with lawyers, have put forward names for the first time. He said there are now more British citizens in prison than there were when his wife was first taken.
“We’ve put in front of the new foreign secretary a file of names, those who are involved in Iran’s hostage taking across the chain … those involved in taking people, processing them, giving them judges, those who are involved in treating them badly in prison,” he said.
“We’re not calling for broad-brush sanctions or collective punishment-type sanctions, it’s very much focused on those who were individually responsible for that stuff.
“It’s a form of organised crime and Iran has become a serial offender. But most hostages these days are state hostages – it’s not groups like ISIS. It’s growing – and in many ways this goes beyond Iran.”
Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, called for a “clearly articulated strategy” for securing the release of British citizens held in Iran.
"The plight of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Anoosheh Ashoori and other UK nationals held in Iran has extended across the last four foreign secretaries – it's long past time that the UK finally brought this deeply distressing episode to an end."
THURSDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 10am:
Lucrezia Stefanini v Elena Rybakina (6)
Aryna Sabalenka (4) v Polona Hercog
Sofia Kenin (1) v Zhaoxuan Yan
Kristina Mladenovic v Garbine Muguruza (5)
Sorana Cirstea v Karolina Pliskova (3)
Jessica Pegula v Elina Svitolina (2)
Court 1
Starting at 10am:
Sara Sorribes Tormo v Nadia Podoroska
Marketa Vondrousova v Su-Wei Hsieh
Elise Mertens (7) v Alize Cornet
Tamara Zidansek v Jennifer Brady (11)
Heather Watson v Jodie Burrage
Vera Zvonareva v Amandine Hesse
Court 2
Starting at 10am:
Arantxa Rus v Xiyu Wang
Maria Kostyuk v Lucie Hradecka
Karolina Muchova v Danka Kovinic
Cori Gauff v Ulrikke Eikeri
Mona Barthel v Anastasia Gasanova
Court 3
Starting at 10am:
Kateryna Bondarenko v Yafan Wang
Aliaksandra Sasnovich v Anna Bondar
Bianca Turati v Yaroslava Shvedova
TO ALL THE BOYS: ALWAYS AND FOREVER
Directed by: Michael Fimognari
Starring: Lana Condor and Noah Centineo
Two stars
Results
5pm: Wadi Nagab – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,200m; Winner: Al Falaq, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ahmed Al Shemaili (trainer)
5.30pm: Wadi Sidr – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Majalis, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: AF Fakhama, Fernando Jara, Mohamed Daggash
6.30pm: Wadi Shees – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Mutaqadim, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 – Listed (PA) Dh230,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Bahar Muscat, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7.30pm: Wadi Tayyibah – Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Poster Paint, Patrick Cosgrave, Bhupat Seemar
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Manchester United v Club America
When: Thursday, 9pm Arizona time (Friday UAE, 8am)
Coming 2 America
Directed by: Craig Brewer
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones
3/5 stars
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A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
MATCH INFO
Group B
Bayern Munich v Tottenham, midnight (Thursday)
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
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Tank warfare
Lt Gen Erik Petersen, deputy chief of programs, US Army, has argued it took a “three decade holiday” on modernising tanks.
“There clearly remains a significant armoured heavy ground manoeuvre threat in this world and maintaining a world class armoured force is absolutely vital,” the general said in London last week.
“We are developing next generation capabilities to compete with and deter adversaries to prevent opportunism or miscalculation, and, if necessary, defeat any foe decisively.”
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
The biog
Name: Timothy Husband
Nationality: New Zealand
Education: Degree in zoology at The University of Sydney
Favourite book: Lemurs of Madagascar by Russell A Mittermeier
Favourite music: Billy Joel
Weekends and holidays: Talking about animals or visiting his farm in Australia
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
THE SPECS
2020 Toyota Corolla Hybrid LE
Engine: 1.8 litre combined with 16-volt electric motors
Transmission: Automatic with manual shifting mode
Power: 121hp
Torque: 142Nm
Price: Dh95,900
Director: Shady Ali
Cast: Boumi Fouad , Mohamed Tharout and Hisham Ismael
Rating: 3/5
