THE released Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori have finally been reunited with their families in the UK after years of detention in Iran.The two British-Iranian nationals were met by their families at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire in the early hours of Thursday after flying home via Oman.Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s seven-year-old daughter, Gabriella, was heard asking: “Is that mummy?” before her mother walked down the steps from the plane.Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori finally left Tehran on Wednesday, after months of negotiation.Supporters of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained in Iran in 2016 on charges of plotting to overthrow Iran’s government — which she has always denied — expressed their delight and relief as the news of her release emerged on Wednesday afternoon.Pictures of a smiling Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe taken inside the plane were widely shared across news outlets and social media. “It’s going to be the beginning of a new life,” her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, told the media when the news was confirmed.The Zaghari-Ratcliffe family have been supported by their parish church, Emmanuel Church, West Hampstead, throughout her detention. A lighted candle burns in front of a picture of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family, and she has been prayed for daily.In the eucharist on Wednesday morning — when Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was still at Tehran airport, awaiting her release — the Vicar, the Revd Jonathan Kester, said: “We come together in cautious but great rejoicing that Nazanin is on the way home. And we pray that she will later be reunited with Richard and Gabriella here in this community in West Hampstead. We pray for her well-being.”Once the news that she was on the plane home was confirmed, he described her release as “wonderful news”.This was echoed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who wrote on Twitter: “Rejoicing in this wonderful news and praying for Nazanin and her family as they prepare to be reunited at long last”; and by the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, who simply said: “What wonderful news!”The Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, herself Iranian, spoke out strongly on behalf of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe in the House of Lords in December (News, 10 December), describing her as “a pawn in a political struggle between Britain and Iran”, and calling her detention “a terrible wrong” that must be put right.“Absolutely wonderful,” Dr Francis-Dehqani said on Wednesday. “I cannot fully express how overjoyed I am by this news. My very best wishes to Nazanin and Richard and their family.”Mr Ratcliffe told journalists on Wednesday afternoon that he and his daughter would really believe the news only when they saw “Mummy”. He thanked people up and down the country who had supported his campaign for her release, which included his going on hunger strike.“Ours has been a cruel experience in some ways, but it’s also been an exposure to such a level of kindness and care,” he told the BBC. “This will be a chapter in our lives, but there are many more chapters to come.”The Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, Tulip Siddiq, speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, paid tribute to Mr Ratcliffe, saying: “I also think he’s really set the bar high for all husbands.”
This is what Bishop Francis-Dehqani (see photograph) has written...Around eight million people in England live in overcrowded, unaffordable or unsuitable homes.This is a shocking statistic. Whole sections of society are affected, with those living in poverty bearing the worst of this injustice. The crisis is ‘neither accidental nor inevitable’ found the Coming Home report, from the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing, Church and Community. The Church of England needs to ‘lead by example’ in tackling the crisis, as part of a wider effort at all levels of society, including Government, local authorities, landowners and individuals.The Commission set out a vision for what good housing should look like - rooted in five core values – the five ‘S’ s: sustainable, safe, stable, sociable, and satisfying. In July, the General Synod of the Church of England gave overwhelming backing to the report, recognising “that the housing crisis harms all society and responding to housing need is an integral part of the mission and ministry of the Church of England, particularly in so far as it affects the poorest and most marginalised.” What are we doing to move forward with these aims? In almost every community there are local churches, often with land and buildings. Can there be small scale developments of four to 10 homes there, for young families unable to afford a local home, or older people with nowhere local to downsize to, or people needing supported living accommodation, or prison leavers with nowhere to go?Coming Home shows examples of the transformation to lives that can occur when churches become involved. Keswick Community Housing Trust, in the Lake District, has built more than 40 affordable homes in an area where local people are priced out of the housing market. The catalyst to this work was a relatively small area of land made available by a local Church of England parish. We have larger plots too, where we can play a key role in shaping new communities – again, emphasising the importance of true affordability and inclusivity.This isn’t about selling off church land. By retaining ownership where possible, we can more actively help to ensure high quality, eco-friendly homes for those who need them most.In the North East, churches of all denominations are working to identify church land where homes can be built, using expert consultants funded by Big Society Capital.In the Diocese of Chelmsford which I serve, we have several emerging initiatives in East London for new churches and almshouses for key workers. In Kent, the Church Commissioners and Shepherdswell with Coldred Community Land Trust, working with English Rural Housing Association, have received approval for 13 new homes, in line with the aims of Coming Home.In Gloucester, the church is seeking to turn a redundant church site into homes for homeless people. And just outside the city, a new factory is building “living pods” – modular homes – for ex-prisoners and others to live in, using modern methods of construction, and closely aligned with the diocese, whose Bishop is the Bishop for Prisons.At national level, a team is being formed with development experience and expertise, able to support dioceses and parishes who want to help tackle the housing crisis.Gloucester Diocese has a property development company, The Good and Faithful Servant, with a growing number of projects across the diocese.They are now exploring how they can work with other dioceses to expand the model across the country. Work has also started towards setting up and registering a Church Housing Association with a national remit and strong local management and pastoral support structures. With the help of Knight Frank and Eido Research, a geospatial map of all Church of England land and buildings across England has been created to assist dioceses in stewarding their assets and strengthen their approach to housing and other developments.We are also supporting some pilot schemes that could be blueprints for the future and models for other churches to follow. These include a ‘how to guide’ for parishes and churches wishing to develop their land or buildings.The Commission has already been active in supporting pioneering schemes that could be expanded across the church. As Joanne Thorns, the Church of England priest who is helping coordinate efforts to locate land in the North East, said: ‘we don’t want to just build accommodation and then walk away’ – this is about creating communities as well as homes. There’s a sixth ‘S’ – Sacrifice. At the heart of the Christian story is the sacrificial self-giving of Jesus Christ. So we’re working to mobilise the Church to play a far more substantial – and sacrificial – role in tackling the scandal of rotten, unaffordable, unsafe housing which too many of our fellow citizens have to endure. Our hope is that others will catch this vision and be willing to share our mission – to provide homes and build communities where people love to live.- Bishop Guli was appointed the Church of England’s first Bishop for Housing last year, leading the work to implement the Coming Home report.
The Archbishop of Canterbury met with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia via video call yesterday.The Archbishop thanked the Patriarch for the meeting and the opportunity to discuss the urgent need for peace in Ukraine.During the conversation, Archbishop Justin Welby (pictured with Patriarch Kirill on a previous visit to London) expressed his grave concern about the war in Ukraine which he said is a great tragedy. He stressed the need for an end to the violence in Ukraine and said that war and violence is never an answer. The Archbishop said we need to find ways to live as neighbours in Europe without the aggression and human suffering which have been too much part of our life and history. The Archbishop said that as churches we must be united in following the great call of Jesus Christ on his disciples to be peacemakers, to do what we can to enable politicians to do their work of establishing the freedom and rights of all people in Ukraine. He appealed to His Holiness to join him in speaking for peace in public, and spoke of the need for a ceasefire.The Archbishop said that he and the Church of England would do whatever it could to support refugees.Both leaders emphasised the need to achieve a lasting peace based on justice as soon as possible and agreed to continued communication.
