LONDON: Iran has postponed a new trial due to start Sunday of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman detained in Tehran for sedition, her husband said.
鈥淵es, today鈥檚 hearing was postponed,鈥� Richard Ratcliffe told AFP in London. Her Iranian lawyer was told 鈥渢he case was not happening today,鈥� he added.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 41, has spent more than four years in jail or under house arrest since being arrested in the Iranian capital in April 2016 while on a visit to see relatives with her young daughter.
Iranian state television鈥檚 website Iribnews said on Tuesday that she and her lawyer had been notified of a new indictment, without giving further details or a trial date.
Ratcliffe had said last week that she was due to appear in court on Sunday, and that it was 鈥渋ncreasingly clear鈥� she was being held as a 鈥渉ostage鈥� against a longstanding UK debt to Iran.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation 鈥� the media organization鈥檚 philanthropic arm 鈥� denied sedition but was convicted and jailed for five years.
Her British MP Tulip Siddiq also relayed the news of Sunday鈥檚 postponement after speaking to Ratcliffe.
鈥淪he is relieved, frustrated, stressed and angry. Once again she鈥檚 being treated like a bargaining chip,鈥� Siddiq tweeted.