An emotional reunion with dad for jailed Nazanin’s girl
THE father of Gabriella ZaghariRatcliffe has revealed his “rollercoaster” of emotions following her return to Britain while her mother Nazanin remains behind bars in Iran.
Richard Ratcliffe has lived apart from his five-year-old girl for three-and-a-half years after she stayed with her grandparents to ensure she was able to regularly visit her mother.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being held in the notorious Evin Prison.
Gabriella would visit her there when authorities gave her the green light but is unable to speak English due to the length of time she has been living in Iran.
Richard described yesterday’s reunion with his daughter as a “happy day” now that she is back home.
Hero
He said: “I spoke to Nazanin yesterday and she was reasonably distraught
“One of the things she really didn’t want to happen was her daughter to leave while she was still in prison.”
Richard underlined there was a real risk his wife’s mental and physical condition will deteriorate now.
He said he wants to meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson over his wife’s case as he fights on for her release.
“We have been caught in the middle of a gunfight,” he said. “We will be looking to meet with Boris as soon as possible.
“This is an area where he can make a difference. He took responsibly for it as foreign secretary... he for us.
“We looked to him once before to be our hero and now he’s got another chance.”
Richard said the first thing his daughter wanted to do since she’s home in Britain is to visit a toy shop.
He said: “Of course, seeing her late last night was lovely. And bless her, she’s a bit shy and a bit traumatised and hasn’t seen daddy for a long time.
“And there is a language problem. So it takes her a while to feel safe. But it’s just lovely to have her back.” Pointing at the hasn’t yet delivered next room, where his daughter was waiting, Richard added: “We were just negotiating what she wants to do this afternoon, and we went through various different options, and a toy shop was the one that landed.
“So a toy shop is where we’re off to.”
The couple took the difficult decision Gabriella should head back to the UK so she is able to start school.
In 2016, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison after she was accused of spying, which she has denied.