Jailed British mother in Iran ‘close to nervous breakdown’

A BRITISH mother jailed for five years in Iran on trumped-up “unspecified” charges is near to a nervous breakdown, her husband said last night.

Richard Ratcliffe said his wife, Nazanin, had seen a specialist after finding breast lumps.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 38, had also “expressed anger” at Boris Johnson over the “shambles” her case had become, he said.

The Foreign Secretary had told MPs she was in Iran “training journalists”. Iran then said it might double her sentence. Her family insist she was just on a family holiday with her young daughter. But they declined to join calls on Mr Johnson to quit.

He and Mr Ratcliffe spoke by phone yesterday for the first time. Government sources said it was “constructive” and the pair will meet this week or next, ahead of Mr Johnson’s visit to Tehran.

Mr Ratcliffe said Mr Johnson would “look seriously at the prospect” of letting him join the visit in the coming weeks.