Crown Prince receives UK foreign secretary
Foreign minister’s visit to Tehran pays off for family of aid worker held on spying charges
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, yesterday received Boris Johnson, the UK foreign secretary, at Al Shati Palace. Mr Johnson was returning from Iran, where he met president Hassan Rouhani to plead for a jailed British-Iranian woman.
A court case in which British aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was expected to have her jail term in Iran extended has been delayed after a visit by foreign secretary Boris Johnson, campaigners said.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was due to appear in court yesterday but the Free Nazanin Campaign said the court case was put on hold.
“Is there light at the end of the tunnel?” Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe said. “I can see some light today, more than before. Having no court suddenly. It feels like God is protecting me. Can you please continue to pray?”
Her husband Richard Ratcliffe said: “This weekend we had our first ripple of freedom.”
It came after Mr Johnson held talks with the Iranian president on the last day of his trip, which was dominated by the case of the jailed British mother.
Mr Johnson spent an hour with Hassan Rouhani yesterday in a meeting described by a foreign office spokesman as worthwhile.
“During nearly an hour of talks with president Rouhani, both spoke forthrightly about the obstacles in the relationship,” the spokesman said.
He said both men had “agreed on the need to make progress in all areas”.
Mr Johnson is under intense pressure to secure Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release after he wrongly said she had travelled to Iran to “train journalists” – a comment that led to threats to increase her jail sentence.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe is serving a five-year sentence for plotting the “soft toppling” of Iran’s government while travelling there with her toddler daughter.
It had been feared that her sentence could have been increased by up to 16 years had yesterday’s court case gone ahead.
Ahead of his visit to Iran, Mr Johnson had spoken of his desire to secure the release of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other dual British-Iranian nationals being held in Iran.
“We will discuss our bilateral relationship and I will stress my grave concerns about our dual national consular cases and press for their release where there are humanitarian grounds to do so,” he said.
After the meeting, Mr Johnson’s spokesman said: “We leave with a sense that both sides want to keep up the momentum to resolve the difficult issues in the bilateral relationship and preserve the nuclear deal.”
But no mention was made of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s possible release.
Mr Johnson had also held constructive talks with the Iranian foreign minister on Saturday, where the plight of the jailed aid worker was first discussed.
In a meeting with Mohammed Javad Zarif, Mr Johnson touched on his “concerns about the consular cases of British-Iranian dual nationals”, the foreign office said.
As he flew into Iran, Mr Ratcliffe said: “I’m waiting on tenterhooks – biting my nails.”
Hopes for Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s early release rose this month when it emerged that an Iranian government medic was to make checks on her mental health after claims she has been suffering panic attacks, depression and had suicidal thoughts. But Mr Johnson had said, he was not anticipating an immediate breakthrough in the case.
As part of the trip he was expected to attempt to settle a long-running £400 million (Dh1.96 billion) dispute that could help to secure Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s freedom.
Other issues discussed during his trip included the need to preserve the Iran nuclear deal, the foreign office said.