BRITISH charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been sentenced to another year in prison and has been banned from leaving Iran.

The 42-year-old - whose sister-in-law Rebecca is a GP in Cwmbran - completed a five-year sentence earlier this month in Tehran on spying charges levied by Iranian authorities, the last year of which was spent under house arrest due to the pandemic.

Her lawyer, Hojjat Kermani, told Emtedad news website that an Iranian Revolutionary court had sentenced the British-Iranian aid worker to a one-year jail term on Monday.

Mr Kermani said: "Nazanin Zaghari was sentenced to one year in prison and one year ban from leaving the country on charges of propaganda against the Islamic Republic."

Her lawyer confirmed that they will be appealing the sentence.

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The propaganda charge relates to Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s alleged attendance outside Iran’s embassy in London in 2009. At the time, the regime was stamping down on protesters following a controversial presidential election.

Last month, Dominic Raab condemned Iran’s decision to continue with a “wholly arbitrary” new case against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe as “unacceptable and unjustifiable” and called for the mother-of-one to be allowed to return to the UK.

Mr Raab said: “It is unacceptable and unjustifiable that Iran has chosen to continue with this second, wholly arbitrary, case against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

“The Iranian government has deliberately put her through a cruel and inhumane ordeal.

“Nazanin must be allowed to return to her family in the UK without further delay. We continue to do all we can to support her.”

South Wales Argus: Nazanin's husband Richard Ratcliffe with his daughter Gabriella during a protest outside the Iranian embassy in London (Ian West/PA)Nazanin's husband Richard Ratcliffe with his daughter Gabriella during a protest outside the Iranian embassy in London (Ian West/PA)

Boris Johnson has been in direct contact with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Over the case.

Last month, the prime minister demanded her immediate release, along with other detained British-Iranian dual nationals.

A No 10 spokesman said at the time: “He said that while the removal of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s ankle monitor was welcome, her continued confinement remains completely unacceptable and she must be allowed to return to her family in the UK.”