Johnson slip bad for jailed Briton
BRITAIN: Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson faced cross-party condemnation yesterday after being accused of an error that could result in a British mother spending five more years in an Iranian prison.
Downing Street refused to back Johnson’s handling of the case as it emerged he had erroneously suggested that Nazanin ZaghariRatcliffe, 38, may have been training journalists in Iran when she was arrested last year. This has always been denied by her employer and family.
Johnson’s comments, made to a parliamentary committee last week, led to Zaghari-Ratcliffe being brought back to court at the weekend on charges of ‘‘propaganda against the regime’’, with the threat of five more years in prison. Iran has accused her of spying but offered no evidence.
The Iranian judiciary cited Johnson’s remarks as evidence that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had lied in her original defence by claiming she was on holiday.
Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, said Johnson had shown a ‘‘fundamental lack of interest or concern’’ for ZaghariRatcliffe or the ‘‘consequences of his words’’. She said he should ‘‘consider his position’’.
Senior Conservatives are also preparing to call for Johnson to quit unless he backs down over his blunder, has been told. A number of Tory party figures have been in touch with Downing Street to say they will heap public pressure on him if he does not issue a retraction.
The controversy came as a second cabinet minister, Priti Patel, was given a severe reprimand by Prime Minister Theresa May for holding meetings with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and other officials from the country without telling her or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Patel told Johnson at some point during the trip in August but neither disclosed this to May.
Johnson made his comments on the Zaghari-Ratcliffe case at a foreign affairs select committee meeting. He told MPs: ‘‘If you look at what Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing, she was simply teaching people journalism as I understand it, at the very limit.’’
The Iranian judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights said the remarks proved she was engaged in propaganda. ‘‘His statement shows that Nazanin had visited the country for anything but a holiday,’’ the council wrote. She has said she was visiting her parents in Tehran with her baby, Gabriella, before her arrest.
Johnson’s comments contradict evidence given by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, ZaghariRatcliffe’s employer, and her family.
Richard Ratcliffe, her husband, said there was ‘‘a direct link between Johnson’s comments on Wednesday and Judge Salavati, the harshest judge that you can find, hearing her case on Saturday, where she is now facing a double sentence’’.
Ratcliffe said: ‘‘His mis-step, saying she was training journalists not that she was on holiday – contradicting what we have said all along – is being used for propaganda purposes to justify holding her. Because it is confirmed that a new case has been opened, she will be unable to get early release from the old case. Boris Johnson must issue a correction before the trial.’’
The Thomson Reuters Foundation confirmed Zaghari-Ratcliffe does not train journalists in her job as a project manager, neither does the foundation work in Iran. Its chief executive, Monique Villa, urged Johnson to correct his ‘‘serious mistake’’.
The Foreign Office stopped short of a full retraction. A spokesman said Johnson’s testimony provided ‘‘no justifiable basis’’ for further charges against ZaghariRatcliffe. ‘‘The foreign secretary sought to explain that even the most extreme set of unproven Iranian allegations against her were insufficient reason for her detention.’’