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Boris Johnson urged to raise Zaghari-Ratcliffe case with Iran counterpart Boris Johnson to raise Zaghari-Ratcliffe case with Iran counterpart
(about 9 hours later)
The husband of a British-Iranian woman being held in an Iranian jail is calling on Boris Johnson to raise his wife’s case when he meets Iran’s foreign minister. The foreign minister, Boris Johnson, is expected to raise the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman being held in an Iranian jail, when he meets his Iraniancounterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, for talks in Brussels, Downing Street has said.
Johnson is meeting his Iranian counterpart in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the Iran nuclear deal following Donald Trump’s decision to pull the US out of it. The confirmation came after her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, urged Johnson to discuss the case with Zarif.
Richard Ratcliffe, who has not seen his wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe ,or his daughter, Gabriella, since his wife was detained in 2016, has been told she faces new charges and will be back in court within a week. The two foreign ministers were due to meet later on Tuesday in Brussels to discuss ways to shore up the Iran nuclear deal, from which the US has now withdrawn.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was accused of seeking a “soft overthrow” of the Islamic republic. She denies the charges and maintains she was in the country to introduce her daughter to her parents. “We have been clear from the outset that we want to see more progress being made,” Theresa May’s spokesman said of Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imprisonment.
Ratcliffe said his wife’s case and those of other dual nationals also detained in Iran should be “top of [Johnson’s] priority list” at the meeting. Previously the government has kept the case separate from talks on the nuclear deal, but the spokesman said the Brussels meeting provided an opportunity to raise it “person to person”.Downing Street said May had discussed Zaghari-Ratcliffe with the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, when they talked over the weekend.
On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ratcliffe said his wife was “pretty down and shaken” by the threat of new charges and said it was hard for the whole family “to keep hope alive”. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was accused of seeking a “soft overthrow” of the Islamic republic. She denies the charges and maintains she was in the country to introduce her daughter, Gabriella, to her parents. Her husband has seen neither his wife or daughter since she was detained in 2016.
Both Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her father were told by the prosecutor that a decision on the new charges would be taken next week. Ratcliffe said his wife’s case and those of other dual-nationals also detained in Iran should be “top of [Johnson’s] priority list” at the meeting.
He said: “[Nazanin] is bewildered and outraged about how she could have possibly done anything while sitting in prison. Her parents are obviously deeply traumatised and confused. For all of us this has gone on for so long ... it’s just such a rabbit hole.” He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programmethat his wife was “pretty down and shaken” by the threat of further charges being brought against her and said it was hard for the whole family “to keep hope alive”.
Ratcliffe said the UK “needs to do better by British Iranians” and is “failing to protect them”. He has previously criticised the foreign secretary for incorrectly claiming that his wife was training journalists in Iran, for which he apologised. Both Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her father were told by the prosecutor that a decision on the those charges would be taken next week.
Johnson met with Ratcliffe in November last year before visiting Iran and pledged to fight for her release, promising to leave no stone unturned. However, little progress has been made since then. Ratcliffe said: “[Nazanin] is bewildered and outraged about how she could have possibly done anything while sitting in prison. Her parents are obviously deeply traumatised and confused. For all of us this has gone on for so long ... it’s just such a rabbit hole.”
On Sunday, Theresa May urged Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, to make further progress towards the release of British-Iranians “on humanitarian grounds” during a phone conversation before the Brussels meeting. He said the UK needed “to do better by British Iranians” and was “failing to protect them”. He has previously criticised Johnson for incorrectly claiming that his wife was training journalists in Iran, for which the foreign secretary later apologised.
The foreign office said that Johnson would also be raising all the UK’s Iranian consular cases during the meeting on Tuesday. Johnson met with Ratcliffe in November before visiting Iran and pledged to fight for her release,. However, little progress has been made since then.
A foreign office spokeswoman said: “We will continue to approach each case in a way that we judge is most likely to secure the outcome we all want. Therefore we will not be providing a running commentary on every twist and turn.” On Sunday, May urged Rouhani to make further progress towards the release of British-Iranians “on humanitarian grounds”.
The Foreign Office said Johnson would also be raising all the UK’s Iranian consular cases during the meeting on Tuesday.
A spokeswoman said: “We will continue to approach each case in a way that we judge is most likely to secure the outcome we all want. Therefore we will not be providing a running commentary on every twist and turn.”
Nazanin Zaghari-RatcliffeNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
Boris JohnsonBoris Johnson
IranIran
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