HEAAADERLOGORIGHT

LEGAL ENGLISH · BREAKING NEWS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

NAZANIN
RELEASED
AFTER SIX YEARS

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Expemo code:
19ET-C5G8-GV92

1 Warm up

Look at the images and discuss the questions in pairs or small groups.

1. Do you have dual nationality, or know anybody who does?

2. Have you ever had problems with the police when in a foreign country?
3. If you got into legal trouble while on holiday, would you expect your own government to help you?
4. If a person is arrested in another country, should they be returned to their own country?
5. Are there any countries you would avoid visiting for safety reasons?

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NAZANIN RELEASED AFTER SIX YEARS

2 Pre-listening task: vocabulary focus

Part A: Match words with the correct definitions.

1. aid worker (n) a. relating to priests or a similar religious establishment

2. detention (n) b. decide officially in a law court that someone is guilty of a crime

3. furlough (n) c. describing something extremely bad, especially from a moral

point of view
4. long-standing (adj.) d. organise a series of activities to try to achieve something

5. appalling (adj.) e. a period of time that a soldier, prisoner or worker is allowed to

be absent
6. ordeal (n) f. defeat or remove someone from power, using force

7. convict (v) g. a difficult or unpleasant experience

8. overthrow (v) h. having existed for a long time

9. clerical (adj.) i. the state of being kept in a place, especially a prison, and
prevented from leaving
10. campaign (v) j. someone who is working in a country where there is war, no
food etc. in order to help people

Part B: Complete the sentences with the missing words from Part A. You may need to change the
form of the word.

1. He was of lying to the court.

2. The animals were kept in conditions before being rescued.

3. Before going to university, she spent a year in Africa as an .

4. A disagreement about land resulted in Jim attacking his neighbour.

5. The survivors of the plane crash spoke of their last night.

6. Many are hoping that the dictator will be by his own people.

7. Environmentalists for years to expand the nature preserve for rare water birds.

8. During my time in prison, I was released on so I could visit my wife in hospital.

9. Some countries are ruled by leaders rather than elected ones.

10. He was kept in for 8 weeks before being released.

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NAZANIN RELEASED AFTER SIX YEARS

3 Listening for specific information

Listen to the report about the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Write what the items below relate
to.

1. March 16

2. WANA

3. 520,000,000

4. 2016

5. Liz Truss

6. The TRF

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NAZANIN RELEASED AFTER SIX YEARS

4 Listening comprehension

Listen to the report again. Mark the statements as true, false or not given.

1. Anousheh Ashouri is a British-Iranian who was released on the same day as Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

2. Three more prisoners were released on furlough.

3. As part of the release deal, Britain is planning to sell tanks to the Shah of Iran.

4. The Foreign Secretary is delighted that the prisoners have been released.

5. The reason given for Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imprisonment is that she was believed to be planning to
overthrow Iran’s rulers.

6. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s previous employer claimed that she was visiting Iran in a personal capacity.

7. The leader of Iran accused Zaghari-Ratcliffe of being an Israeli spy.

8. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband campaigned for her release by taking part in a hunger strike.

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NAZANIN RELEASED AFTER SIX YEARS

5 Reading: general vocabulary

Part A: Match the words and phrases in bold with the correct definitions.

1. Before becoming President, he was a revolutionary leader.

2. The Prime Minister was finally toppled by a news story about his criminal activities.
3. We’re frustrated that the government seems slow to act on the scandal, so we’re organising a
protest.
4. Fortunately, the hostages were released from the plane unharmed.
5. His business failed amid reports of fraud.
6. Some countries have severe penalties for smuggling illegal goods.
7. During the divorce, my husband used our dog as a bargaining chip because he knew it would make
me feel bad.
8. When attempting to negotiate an end to the war, we’ll need to tread carefully to avoid the situation
getting worse.
9. She has been detained in Iran for the last 6 years.

a. a fact or thing that a person or a group of people can use to get an advantage for themselves when
trying to reach an agreement with another group or person
b. a person who is captured and held prisoner by a person or group, often for the purpose of
demanding something in return for their release
c. connected with political revolution
d. force a leader or government out of power
e. in the middle of or during something, especially something that causes excitement or fear
f. keep somebody in an official place, such as prison or police station, and not allow them to leave
g. make somebody feel annoyed or impatient because they cannot do or achieve what they want
h. take, send or bring goods or people illegally and secretly into or out of a country
i. very careful about what you do or say

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NAZANIN RELEASED AFTER SIX YEARS

Part B: Complete the short text with the correct words from Part A. You may need to change the form
of the words.

1
After the revolution, things changed a lot in my country. all the
2
fighting between the army and the forces, many people went
missing. Some of them, we found out later, had become
3
, captured by the government. After the President was
4
, these individuals were released. The rebels formed their own
5
government, and started to members of the previous one.

Then, they began arresting anyone who may have been connected to the former President.
6
One of these people was my brother, who was with the way in
which the rebels were handling the transition. He went to the Presidential Palace to confront
7
them and was instead taken prisoner and charged with weapons
into the country.

My parents and I knew this to be a lie, but we quickly learnt to

8
around our new rulers. There were reports of citizens
disappearing in the night. We heard some terrible things. In the end, my brother was used
9
as a to ensure the release of several prisoners of the state, who
were being held in a government-controlled city. After he came home, we decided to leave
the country. We didn’t feel safe anymore.

Discuss these questions in pairs

1. Do you think it’s ever acceptable for countries to take hostages to be used as bargaining chips?
2. In conversations with friends and family, are there any topics you tend to tread carefully around?
3. Does your country have a problem with goods being smuggled?
4. Do you know anybody who has been detained while on holiday?

6 Reading for general understanding

You are going to read a text about hostages of the state. Scan the text quickly and match the headings
with the correct paragraph. One heading cannot be matched to any of the paragraphs and should be
marked ‘Not given’.

a. A mishandled crisis

b. An age-old problem that still exists today

c. A scandal that began in the 60s

d. A happy ending – for Nazanin

e. A complex issue to solve

f. Arrested and charged – but why?

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NAZANIN RELEASED AFTER SIX YEARS

Hostage of the state

When individuals get caught between nations

1. The recent news that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was against her. Frustrated at the lack of progress,
being released was a bright moment in otherwise in 2019 Nazanin’s husband Richard took part in a
dark times, with headlines previously dominated by hunger strike in which he camped outside the Iranian
war and coronavirus cases. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who Embassy in London. This, combined with the hard
has been detained in Iran for the last 6 years, was work of Amnesty International and Richard’s MP
greeted by her husband and seven-year-old daughter Tulip Siddiq, helped to raise the profile of the case.
upon her return to the United Kingdom. Although the
resolution has been warmly welcomed by onlookers, 4. State-sponsored hostage taking is not a new

many around the world remain in captivity, held phenomenon. It was relatively widespread in the

by foreign governments or groups working on their 1980s, with members of the public held captive in

behalf. In most cases, these individuals are private countries such as Iran and Lebanon. In 1987, Terry

citizens whose only crime was to end up in the wrong Waite, an assistant to the Archbishop of Canterbury,

place at the wrong time. was captured in Beirut whilst attempting to negotiate
the release of several hostages in the region. He
2. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker with dual
was imprisoned for four years. More recently, US
citizenship, travelled to Iran in 2016 to visit her
Basketball player Brittney Griner was detained in
family and celebrate a local festival. As she was
Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine. Griner was
about to board a flight back to Britain, she was
accused of smuggling cannabis oil into the country.
arrested by members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
The athlete has been held for over a month. Her
In September that year, she was sentenced to five
story has, by and large, gone under the radar, which
years in prison, having been charged with "plotting
may be deliberate: the US might wish not to draw
to topple the Iranian regime." Suggested reasons for
too much attention to Griner’s plight, in case her
her arrest include her previous role in another charity
Russian captors perceive her to be a more valuable
– the BBC World Service Trust – an organisation
bargaining chip.
which provided training courses to Iranian journalists
and bloggers, some of which were later sentenced 5. The reduction of a human being to a political pawn
to prison for participating in such courses. Zaghari- is, perhaps, the most shocking aspect of state-
Ratcliffe’s case is, however, widely believed to be sponsored hostage taking. As with a regular hostage
linked to a dispute between Iran and the United situation, in which negotiations must be conducted
Kingdom over an unpaid debt relating to an arms delicately so as to avoid worsening the situation, it
deal. On the day of her release, the British Foreign is important to tread carefully and to be aware of
Secretary Liz Truss announced that the government all potential outcomes. Will paying Iran for Zaghari-
had finally paid the debt to Iran. Ratcliffe’s release make further hostage taking likely?
3. Critics have accused the British government of failing Can talking about a hostage lead to a potentially bad
to resolve the incident. Her ordeal was, perhaps, outcome, or should as much publicity as possible
not helped by the remarks of the Foreign Secretary be generated? The answer seems unclear. Perhaps
in 2017 – current Prime Minister Boris Johnson the best idea is to focus on the individuals involved.
– who said: "When we look at what Nazanin A year after his release, Terry Waite set up his
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing, she was simply teaching own charity, Hostage International. During her
people journalism, as I understand it, at the very imprisonment, he kept in contact with Zaghari-
limit." Four days after Johnson’s comments, Zaghari- Ratcliffe via email. In his last message before her
Ratcliffe was forced to return to court. The then- return to the UK, Waite said: "Be assured, Nazanin,
Foreign Secretary’s remarks were used in evidence this ordeal will come to an end."

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NAZANIN RELEASED AFTER SIX YEARS

7 Reading comprehension

Read the article again. Complete the sentences with between ONE to THREE words from the article.

1. With headlines dominated by war and disease, Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release has been a
in troubled times.

2. Many of those held in captivity around the world are who happened
to end up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

3. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested as she was about to a flight back

to the United Kingdom.

4. Nazanin’s case has been linked to a disagreement over an relating

to an arms deal.

5. The Foreign Secretary at the time made that were used against
Zaghari-Ratcliffe in court.

6. Richard, Nazanin’s husband, took part in a outside the Iranian Embassy

in London.

7. The taking of hostages by foreign countries was in the 1980s.

8. Brittney Griner, a basketball player in Russia, hasn’t received much

media attention.

9. One of the most shocking aspects of state-sponsored hostage taking is the way in which people
are treated as .

10. Former hostage Terry Waite with Nazarin Zaghari-Ratcliffe via email
during her imprisonment.

8 Talking point

In pairs or small groups, discuss the following questions.

1. Do you think that the British government could have done more to help Nazanin?
2. In general, do you think that governments should do anything in their power to ensure the freedom
of a hostage?
3. Can paying money to those who take people hostage be a bad thing? Could it encourage others
to do the same?
4. What challenges do you think Zaghari-Ratcliffe might face when she returns home?
5. Should politicians who endanger their own citizens through their actions be held responsible?
6. Do you think a hunger strike is an effective method of protest?

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