Hostage-taking by Iran has become ‘industrialised’, senior MP tells Nazanin Zachari-Ratcliffe

Hostage-taking by states has become “industrialised”, according to the chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.

Conservative MP Alicia Kearns made the claim as she appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme as it was guest-edited by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was imprisoned in Iran for six years until her release earlier this year.

Ms Kearns said: “I think you have to call things what they are and I think as we see more and more states use hostage-taking, I mean it has become industrialised over the last few years, you have China, you have Turkey, you have Iran, you have others, it’s important that you call it out for what it is.

“And I recognise that diplomats sometimes find that diplomatic language helps, but actually I think it ends up allowing countries to get around it by claiming it’s just a small issue within their legal system whereas actually it’s industrialised hostage-taking.”

Ms Kearns recognised the challenges linked to publicising a case although noted families should never feel the only way to compel the UK Government to take “substantive action” on their case is to go public.

She added: “But I do think that Richard (Ratcliffe) and Nazanin changed the world’s awareness of hostage taking and that’s something that was a great service to our nation and the wider world, because they’ve changed that conversation so that now there is more discussions about state hostage-taking and therefore more openness when it is helpful, but sometimes it genuinely isn’t.”