Iran confirms rejecting appeal by held British-Iranian woman

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran has confirmed that the final appeal by a British-Iranian woman detained in Iran while on a trip with her toddler daughter of having her five-year prison sentence overturned has been denied.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family earlier said that she learned of the development last weekend.

The judiciary’s Mizanonline.ir on Wednesday quoted Gholamhossein Esmaili, head of Tehran’s justice department, as saying the appeal was rejected and that the “appeals court approved the verdict by the primary court.” He didn’t elaborate.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency was detained by security forces in Iran in 2016. Later, she was sentenced on security charges.

Iranian media have said Zaghari-Ratcliffe was convicted of plotting the “soft toppling” of Iran’s government.

Iran doesn’t recognize dual nationality.