‘I’m crying buckets’: Viewers left ‘sobbing in front of the TV’ as documentary shows emotional moment Nazanin Zaghari-Ratclffe is reunited with her family in the UK after 6 years in an Iran jail
- Viewers revealed on Twitter they had been left ‘crying buckets’ at the scenes
- Read more: Why not tell us the whole story about Nazanin’s hostage ordeal?
Viewers of a documentary covering Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imprisonment in Iran were left in tears at the emotional reunion as it was shown on screen.
Channel 4 film Nazanin, which aired at 9pm last night, showed the moment the British-Iranian mother dropped to her knees and sobbed as she was reunited with her eight-year-old daughter Gabriella and husband Richard following a six-year battle to free her from a Tehran jail.
After watching the emotional reunion, viewers revealed on Twitter that they had been left ‘crying in front of the TV’, while they levelled criticism of the British government over their handling of the case.
On Thursday, a UK government spokesman told Femail officials and cabinet members had worked ‘tirelessly’ to bring home the British aid worker, following her arrest in 2016 at Tehran airport.
However as viewers expressed their intense emotional reactions to the documentary and revealed their admiration for Nazanin’s husband Richard, they added they were disappointed with how long it took to bring Nazanin home.
As viewers watched the emotional moment Nazanin was reunited with her daughter Gabriella at Heathrow Airport in 2022, after the eight-year-old returned back to the UK in October 2019 so she could start school, they said they had been left ‘crying buckets’.
In the footage of the reunion, the family eagerly awaits Nazanin’s arrival as her plane lands at Heathrow Airport. As she steps off the plane, her daughter says: ‘Is that Mummy?’
Richard laughs and replies: ‘That’s Mummy.’
As Nazanin walks through the door, Gabriella runs to greet her mother who bursts into tears and drops to her knees to hug her. Richard then walks towards them, shakes the hand of Mr Ashoori, and hugs his wife and daughter.
Viewers of the Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe documentary, which aired at 9pm last night on Channel 4, took to Twitter to share their emotional reactions to the reunion scene between Nazanin and her husband Richard, and their eight-year-old daughter Gabriella
After watching the clip, one person wrote on Twitter: ‘Seeing her reunited with her family had me in buckets! Hope u (sic) can rebuild your life and make up for the lost years.’
Another Twitter agreed the footage had left them in floods of tears, while one person said it had been a ‘privilege’ to see the family reunited.
As the documentary followed the family’s fight to get Nazanin home over six years, there were several stand-out moments which stuck with viewers.
One moment in particular that stayed with people was Gabriella’s reaction to hearing her mother was finally coming back to the UK.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe returned to the UK last year, where she was reunited with her family following her arrest in Tehran in 2016. Pictured: The family in their first selfie since Nazanin’s return
After the documentary aired on Channel 4, viewers took to Twitter to share how they had been affected by the emotional scenes
After her initial excitement to see her mother in which she headed to her bedroom to pack an overnight bag, Gabriella turns to her father and asks if the proposed return of Nazanin is ‘a trick’.
Watching this moment, one person wrote on Twitter: ‘To hear an 8-year-old say, ‘but what if it’s a trick’ is heartbreaking and rage inducing. NO 8 year old should have to know that is a possibility. We suck.’
One slightly lighter moment in the documentary came when Richard and Nazanin’s brother, Mohammed, joked about the state of the family home as the mother was due to arrive back.
Richard joked Nazanin would likely tell him off for the mess, which included boxes of files and clutter scattered around the flat.
One person wrote on Twitter: ‘Absolutely blown away by #nazanin and her family but can’t help but laugh at these guys frantically cleaning the flat the day before she came home.
‘What a beautiful family and what a s*** show our British government is, not that we didn’t already know that!’
On Thursday, a UK Government spokesman told Femail: ‘Iran put Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe through a horrendous ordeal, right up to the moment she left the country.
‘The UK Government worked tirelessly to end Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s unfair detention and we were delighted that Nazanin was returned to the UK and reunited with her family.’
As the documentary ended and the closing credits were played, one viewer noted the significance of the song that was used, Baraye by Iranian singer Shervin Hajipour.
The song, which has been dubbed an ‘anthem of protest’ was released in September 2022 amid growing tensions and protests in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while she was in police custody following her arrest for ‘improper’ wearing of her hijab.
However, shortly after the song’s release on Instagram, Hajipour was arrested and the song was removed from the social media platform.
On Twitter, many viewers expressed their frustration with the British government’s handling of Nazanin’s case, while revealing they had been left in floods of tears watching the documentary
Elsewhere in the documentary, Richard and Gabriella get ready to visit Number 10 Downing Street to meet with Boris Johnson in 2020, after he had become prime minister.
As the pair get ready, they share a sweet moment as Richard tells Gabriella she should wear a dress that has been made for her by Nazanin.
Later, Nazanin, who at this point is living under house arrest in Iran following the release of 85,000 prisoners due to the pandemic, video calls Richard to ask about the visit.
Gabriella tells her mother she went to ‘Boris Johnson’s house’ where she ‘visited the cat’.
Recalling how he was reunited with Gabriella a few years after Nazanin’s arrest, Richard tells the program it was a difficult decision for the family to bring her back to the UK, but that it was ‘really important’ for her to start school.
Richard says: ‘At the beginning she would say, ‘I don’t want Daddy, I want Mummy. I want my Granny’.
‘Certainly those first few weeks were very tough for her… she will ask, ‘why did this happen to my Mummy’?’
He explains that Gabriella was brought back to the UK by Nazanin’s brother Mohammed, who acted as a translator between the father and daughter at first because the schoolgirl had lost her English language while living in Tehran and only spoke Farsi.
However after a few months, Gabriella is shown settling back into UK life fairly well, and it is revealed she is addicted to playing Minecraft on her iPad.
A scene in which Nazanin video calls back home shows the family having a row almost every family will be familiar with, in which Nazanin tells her daughter she is always ‘busy Minecrafting’ when she calls.
Despite trying to keep Gabriella’s life as normal as possible, the child reveals some chilling details of her time in Iran while her mother was in prison, reflecting the turmoil the family has been through.
It is revealed that Gabriella had her fifth birthday party at the prison where Nazanin was being held, so she could spend time with her mother. They shared a cake and drew unicorns, but the birthday girl sobbed when prison guards said it was time to take Nazanin back to her cell.
As her sixth birthday approaches, Gabriella reflects on her previous year and tells her father: ‘That day I couldn’t say bye-bye to Mummy… they took me upstairs where the prisoners were.
‘One of the soldiers carried me. He was a kind one.’
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