Breast tumour reprieve for wife in Iran jail

THE husband of a British woman jailed in Iran has spoken of his relief after she tested negative for breast cancer.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was examined by doctors in Tehran after finding lumps in her breasts.

But the lumps turned out not to be cancerous, according to her husband Richard Ratcliffe.

“She was taken to hospital 10 days ago and had a check-up again on Saturday. I spoke to her on Sunday,” said Mr Ratcliffe, of north London.

“She had been given medication the week before and the lumps had responded to medication. That meant if they responded to medication they couldn’t be cancerous.

“So she was hugely relieved. There’s been so much going on.”

Mr Ratcliffe said he hoped his wife would be home by Christmas after a “positive and constructive” meeting with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in London earlier this month.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is due to have another ultrasound scan in three months, by which time “hopefully she can be seen by the NHS”, he added.

Meanwhile, the Iranian-British aid worker has been told she will appear in court next month accused of spreading propaganda.

“She has been told she will appear in court on December 10,” Mr Ratcliffe said. His wife’s mental state has suffered since a gaffe by Mr Johnson about her activities in Iran led to the threat of further charges.

The Foreign Secretary later apologised for the “distress” and “suffering” he caused by his suggestion that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was training journalists in Iran, which has exposed her to the threat of having her five-year jail sentence doubled.