A well-known New Zealand couple believed to have been detained in Iran for several months have left the country and are 'safe and well', the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.
Travel bloggers Christopher ‘Topher’ Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray were believed to have been held in detention in the conservative Islamic Republic since entering the country in July.
1News understands the New Zealand Government had been attempting to negotiate the couple’s safe release, but there have been no public updates about their wellbeing until this morning.
"The New Zealanders we have been supplying with consular assistance in Iran have now left the country and they are safe and well. For privacy reasons we are unable to comment further," MFAT said.
Although the reason for their detention has not been confirmed, it’s understood the couple may have been accused of using photographic equipment in a restricted or military zone.
Iran has a well-documented recent history of detaining foreign nationals, and Richwhite and Thackwray’s detention came at a time of significant social unrest in the conservative country.
After raising the couple’s case with New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), 1News and other media agreed to delay reporting on the couple’s plight until now.
Yesterday, Australian Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was previously jailed in Iran, tweeted about the couple's detention bringing it into the public domain.
Disappearance
Richwhite and Thackwray were part way through a global expedition, named Expedition Earth, when they disappeared from their regular online platforms.
Richwhite is the son of high-profile investment banker David Richwhite. Thackwray is the founder of former online fashion platform, Fashbae. The pair were married in New Zealand in June and departed shortly afterwards to continue their global tour.
The couple had been driving across the world in a distinctive Jeep, documenting their travels via social media with the stated intention of raising awareness about environmental issues.
Uncharacteristically, Richwhite and Thackwray abruptly stopped posting online shortly after crossing the Gürbulak-Bazargan border crossing between Turkey and Iran.
It is raised concern among their 300,000 Instagram followers. Some left dozens of comments pleading for information about their whereabouts.
Until today MFAT has made no official comment. The pair’s family members declined to speak to media.
Although the Prime Minister has been briefed on the situation, Jacinda Ardern would not answer questions about the pair’s detention when earlier approached by 1News.
Richwhite and Thackwray’s experience draws parallels with that of Australian travel bloggers Mark Firkin and Jolie King, who were detained by Iranian authorities in 2019 after allegedly flying a drone near military installations. Firkin and King were released in a prisoner swap negotiated by the Australian government after several months in custody.
Before their disappearance, Richwhite and Thackwray’s final posts on social media suggested they were encountering problems with Iranian authorities.
After crossing the border from Turkey, Richwhite recorded a video in which he told Expedition Earth’s Instagram followers they’d been pulled aside by government officials.
“We’ve just come out of a 45-minute meeting with the chief of customs at the nearby town. It was a very strange experience,” he said.
“We were told in advance that we weren’t allowed to smile, or cross our legs, or fidget too much, which was pretty hard considering how nervous we are.
“The meeting was about who we are and why we’re coming to Iran with a sanctioned vehicle.”
Iran banned the import of western vehicles in 2017. Although some rules have been relaxed, sanctions remain on many items.
In another video recorded in Iran and posted online, Thackwray explained she’d been asked to leave a meeting with police because the authorities considered her immodestly dressed.
Although she wore a head covering, police said her shirt needed to extend further below her hips.
Iran strictly enforces conservative laws regarding dress, behaviour, and relationships and reports at the time of the pair’s wedding suggested they’d been advised to marry before travelling through the Middle East.
On the Expedition Earth Instagram account, users can still find a video the pair recorded together, shortly after entering Iran.
“We’re in Iran. A kiss?” asks Thackwray, turning to her husband as he drives their vehicle.
“You’re not allowed to kiss in Iran,” Richwhite replies.
“Some honeymoon,” jokes Thackwray.
In the video, the couple then briefly kiss.
“Breaking the rules,” jokes Thackwray again, before the video ends.
1News and the ‘Quiet Diplomacy’ Response
While they remained in detention, the families of Richwhite and Thackwray, as well as MFAT officials, believed publicity from media reports could place the couple at further risk.
The ministry sought to secure their release through diplomatic channels, and after 1News contacted Iran’s embassy in Wellington, the contact was relayed by Iranian diplomats to their New Zealand counterparts.
The Australian government made a similar request for no publicity when negotiating the release of Mark Firkin and Jolie King in 2019. Media agreed to delay reporting on the couple’s plight until their safe release.
But the so-call ‘quiet diplomacy’ approach has been questioned by another Australian citizen who was recently detained and imprisoned in Iran. Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a dual British-Australian citizen, faced espionage charges after the Iranian government accused her of spying.
Australian authorities asked media not to report on the case as they worked to free Moore-Gilbert, and she ultimately spent more than two years imprisoned in Iran.
After her release in 2020, Moore-Gilbert told 60 Minutes she was “not convinced the quiet diplomacy case stacks up” and that earlier publicity around her detainment would have led to better conditions and a shorter prison sentence.
“The line being run by the government was that trying to find a solution diplomatically behind-the-scenes with Iran was the best approach for getting me out and that the media would complicate things, and could make Iran angry,” she said.
“I took a very different view of the situation based on my own experiences being inside there.
“I knew it was deliberately being kept out of the media against my wishes and from the first six weeks to two months I’d been… demanding to my family they go to the media,” she said.
MFAT officials told 1News earlier this month that the families of Richwhite and Thackwray wished to continue the quiet diplomacy approach.
Iran Protests
The concern over Richwhite and Thackwray’s whereabouts came at a moment of significant social unrest in Iran.
Nationwide protests have continued since mid-September over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly wearing the mandatory Islamic headscarf too loosely.
Amini died in custody after being detained by Iran’s morality police.
Many Iranian women have protested by removing their head coverings in public. Demonstrators have clashed with police and called for the downfall of the Islamic Republic.
Such protests are highly unusual in Iran and authorities have responded with violence and by blocking internet access. Human rights groups say several hundred people have been killed and thousands arrested.
Human rights advocates in New Zealand have organised numerous rallies in support of the Iranian protesters, but the New Zealand government has faced criticism for its response.
MFAT issued a statement saying the government “places great importance on human rights” and regularly expresses its concern about the situation in Iran.
Today, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said New Zealanders currently in Iran should leave.
"The new advice for Iran reiterates the existing “Do Not Travel” warning, and adds that due to the potential for violent civil unrest, the risk of arrest or detention and the volatile security situation in the region, the risk to safety in Iran is significant.”
ACT and the Green Party have called on the government to do more.
In September, Green MP Golriz Ghahraman, who was born in Iran, cut off her hair at a public solidarity rally to support Iranian women.
“I think New Zealanders, and in particular the Iranian community, expect our Government to acknowledge that what is happening is some of the most grave human rights breaches,” she said.
ACT leader David Seymour called on the government to expel Iran’s Ambassador to New Zealand.
“It’s time for our government to properly condemn what is happening to women and girls in Iran. So far, both Jacinda Ardern and [Foreign Affairs Minister] Nanaia Mahuta have been weak in their condemnation,” Seymour said.
It is not known how Richwhite and Thackwray’s detention has affected MFAT’s public response to the Iranian protests and Mahsa Amini’s death.
Although New Zealand maintains diplomatic relations with Iran, tensions between the country’s conservative Islamic regime and western countries have intensified in recent years.
The US maintains strict sanctions on Iran in response to the Iranian regime’s nuclear programme.
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