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The British government must do much more to help Nazanin

It is important to say that there is not a single shred of evidence that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual British-Iranian national, was acting on behalf of the UK government or intelligence agency when she was first jailed in Tehran in April 2016 and held in solitary confinement. At the time she was working for the Thomson-Reuters Foundation teaching journalism to young Iranians in Britain. And she insisted she was on holiday introducing her daughter, Gabriella, to her grandparents. She served four years of a five-year sentence in Evin prison in Tehran, and one under house arrest.
Richard Ratcliffe, a quiet accountant with steely determination, revealed last Thursday that he was nearing the end of his protest because “Gabriella needs two parents.” He is also urging the British government to pay a £400m debt to Iran, which dates back to the 1970s, and is a seen a precondition for the release of Nazanin and other British detainees or, as many prefer to describe them, “hostages.”
And thereby hangs a long and complicated tale. Before the Islamic Revolution, the UK defence ministry struck a deal to sell Tehran more than 1,500 Chieftain tanks and 250 repair vehicles. Iran paid £600m in advance, but the UK, in February 1979 refused to deliver the remainder when the shah was deposed and replaced by a revolutionary and theocratic regime headed by Ayatollah Khomeini. Only 185 tanks had been delivered.
As Ratcliffe wrote in a newspaper article recently: “This debt is a bilateral issue between the UK and Iran. There is a moral hazard here: it is a debt that has to be paid, a legal obligation. It is not a ransom demand: the longer this debt is left unpaid, the greater the anger and the more interest Iran will demand. …Our family has become part of an acceptable level of collateral damage.”
After years of private negotiations, in 1990 Iran made a claim for its money back for the undelivered weaponry by taking the UK to international arbitration in The Hague. Britain made a counterclaim in 1996, but in an arbitration in 2001 it lost both claims. Iran then sought to have the award enforced in the English courts, something Britain resisted until the defence ministry in 2002 put £350m into the court as security. The UK, after getting the award’s size reduced once in The Hague, finally seemed to have run out of options when its last appeal was dismissed in 2009.
UK governments have been criticised for acting incompetently in this affair. The current Conservative Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who was foreign secretary back in 2017, was cited saying Nazanin was “teaching people journalism” – something which harmed her case, according to her family. Johnson’s off-the-cuff remarks were cited as proof of Nazanin engaging in “propaganda against the regime” in an Iranian court hearing and by British critics as the essence of carelessness.
It is a legal and of course politically complex issue. EU and UN sanctions are an additional factor. There was also the implicit threat that any UK bank that helped transfer the cash would be vulnerable to US Treasury secondary sanctions or fines. Privately some ministers are opposed giving £400m to any military body in Iran.
Another complicating factor in recent years has been mounting western pressure on Iran to renew the JCPoA nuclear agreement, which US president Donald Trump abandoned in 2018 and which his Democratic successor Joe Biden has pledged to return to. Talks are supposed to resume in Vienna later this month with interested parties – including nuclear-armed Israel – signalling ominously that their patience with Iran’s increasingly high levels of uranium enrichment is running out.
There are two other dual national detainees held by Iran apart from Nazanin: retired engineer Anoosheh Ashoori and conservationist Morad Tahbaz. As Jeremy Hunt the former foreign secretary put it: “It is time to bite the bullet, get them home and form a united front with our allies so that Iran’s hostage taking is stamped out once and for all.”
And as Richard Ratcliffe explained in a recent BBC interview: “Our case is associated with the wider manoeuvrings. We are a bargaining chip about the debt, but it is part of a much wider piece about Iran ending sanctions and everyone trying to get the Iran nuclear deal revived. That has got many more moving parts and so is more complicated.”
As for Gabriella, he added poignantly: “She knows that Daddy is on hunger strike to get Boris Johnson to bring Mummy home.” It seems entirely right to ask: when will the UK government explain exactly what it is doing to support Nazanin and her family? And what exactly is the strategy for getting her back from Tehran to London?
by: IAN BLACK

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BENEFIT AGM approves 10%...
- March 27, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the company’s headquarters in the Seef District.
During the meeting, shareholders approved all items listed on the agenda, including the ratification of the minutes of the previous AGM held on 26 March 2024. The session reviewed and approved the Board’s Annual Report on the company’s activities and financial performance for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2024, and the shareholders expressed their satisfaction with the company’s operational and financial results during the reporting period.
The meeting also reviewed the Independent External Auditor’s Report on the company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024. Subsequently, the shareholders approved the audited financial statements for the fiscal year. Based on the Board’s recommendation, the shareholders approved the distribution of a cash dividend equivalent to 10% of the paid-up share capital.
Furthermore, the shareholders endorsed the allocation of a total amount of BD 172,500 as remuneration to the members of the Board for the year ended 31 December 2024, subject to prior clearance by related authorities.
The extension of the current composition of the Board was approved, which includes ten members and one CBB observer, for a further six-month term, expiring in September 2025, pending no objection from the CBB.
The meeting reviewed and approved the Corporate Governance Report for 2024, which affirmed the company’s full compliance with the corporate governance directives issued by the CBB and other applicable regulatory frameworks. The AGM absolved the Board Members of liability for any of their actions during the year ending on 31st December 2024, in accordance with the Commercial Companies Law.
In alignment with regulatory requirements, the session approved the reappointment of Ernst & Young (EY) as the company’s External Auditors for the fiscal year 2025, covering both the parent company and its subsidiaries—Sinnad and Bahrain FinTech Bay. The Board was authorised to determine the external auditors’ professional fees, subject to approval from the CBB, and the meeting concluded with a discussion of any additional issues as per Article (207) of the Commercial Companies Law.
Speaking on the company’s performance, Mr. Mohamed Al Bastaki, Chairman BENEFIT , stated: “In terms of the financial results for 2024, I am pleased to say that the year gone by has also been proved to be a success in delivering tangible results. Growth rate for 2024 was 19 per cent. Revenue for the year was BD 17 M (US$ 45.3 Million) and net profit was 2 Million ($ 5.3 Million).
Mr. Al Bastaki also announced that the Board had formally adopted a new three-year strategic roadmap to commence in 2025. The strategy encompasses a phased international expansion, optimisation of internal operations, enhanced revenue diversification, long-term sustainability initiatives, and the advancement of innovation and digital transformation initiatives across all service lines.
“I extend my sincere appreciation to the CBB for its continued support of BENEFIT and its pivotal role in fostering a stable and progressive regulatory environment for the Kingdom’s banking and financial sector—an environment that has significantly reinforced Bahrain’s standing as a leading financial hub in the region,” said Mr. Al Bastaki. “I would also like to thank our partner banks and valued customers for their trust, and our shareholders for their ongoing encouragement. The achievements of 2024 set a strong precedent, and I am confident they will serve as a foundation for yet another successful and impactful year ahead.”
Chief Executive of BENEFIT; Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi commented, “The year 2024 represented another pivotal chapter in BENEFIT ’s evolution. We achieved substantial progress in advancing our digital strategy across multiple sectors, while reinforcing our long-term commitment to the development of Bahrain’s financial services and payments landscape. Throughout the year, we remained firmly aligned with our objective of delivering measurable value to our shareholders, strategic partners, and customers. At the same time, we continued to play an active role in enabling Bahrain’s digital economy by introducing innovative solutions and service enhancements that directly address market needs and future opportunities.”
Mr. AlJanahi affirmed that BENEFIT has successfully developed a robust and well-integrated payment network that connects individuals and businesses across Bahrain, accelerating the adoption of emerging technologies in the banking and financial services sector and reinforcing Bahrain’s position as a growing fintech hub, and added, “Our achievements of the past year reflect a long-term vision to establish a resilient electronic payment infrastructure that supports the Kingdom’s digital economy. Key developments in 2024 included the implementation of central authentication for open banking via BENEFIT Pay”
Mr. AlJanahi concluded by thanking the Board for its strategic direction, the company’s staff for their continued dedication, and the Central Bank of Bahrain, member banks, and shareholders for their valuable partnership and confidence in the company’s long-term vision.
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