FIRING BORIS WON’T SAVE MY WIFE
Husband calls for calm as Gove is dragged into case of British mum in Iran jail
THE husband of a British mother imprisoned in Iran last night revealed she is ‘angry’ at Boris Johnson’s handling of the case – but insisted he should not be forced to resign.
Richard Ratcliffe said his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was ‘on the verge of a nervous breakdown’ and angry at the Foreign Secretary for allowing the situation to become ‘a shambles’.
He said her mood was ‘uncontrollable’ and revealed that she had experienced pain in her breasts and been taken to hospital for an ultrasound, which found lumps. The mother-of-one has a family history of breast cancer and a former cellmate described seeing her hair falling out in ‘huge clumps’.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 38, was seen by a spe- cialist in Tehran on Saturday. The consultant said he thought the lumps were likely to be benign but added that some cancers were linked to stress, her husband said. Mr Johnson has faced calls to resign for suggesting last week that Mrs ZaghariRatcliffe was training journalists in Iran – comments which could lead to her jail sentence being increased.
His Cabinet colleague Michael Gove also came under fire yesterday for saying he did not know why Mrs ZaghariRatcliffe was in the country. Labour seized on the comments as ‘shameful’, with shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett saying Mr Gove had ‘compounded’ Mr Johnson’s ‘cavalier approach to international diplomacy’.
He added: ‘It appears Michael Gove is more interested in protecting Boris Johnson’s job than the liberty of a British citizen in jail in Iran.’ Jeremy Corbyn said Mr Johnson should be sacked for ‘putting our citizens at risk’.
But last night Mr Ratcliffe insisted that no-one should be forced to resign over the row. ‘I do not believe it is in Nazanin’s interests for there to be any resignations,’ he said. ‘ My view is Nazanin’s interests are not served by more instability.’
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in Tehran in April 2016 and sentenced to five years imprisonment for working against the Iranian regime, a charge she has always denied.
Her husband has campaigned for her release and has insisted she was on holiday with their 18-month- old daughter Gabriella so the child could meet her grandparents in Iran.
Despite her family pleading for help from the Foreign Office for more than 18 months, Mr Johnson told the for-
‘She has been very angry for days’
eign affairs committee she had been training journalists in Iran – comments which the state broadcaster said amounted to an ‘unintended admission’ of her guilt.
Mr Johnson later phoned his Iranian counterpart to say Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was there on holiday and said his comments could not be used to justify further charges or penalties against her.
Yesterday, Mr Ratcliffe said he had had a ‘positive’ 20-minute phone call with Mr Johnson, in which the Foreign Secretary had promised to meet him within the next few days.
He said Mr Johnson had also promised he would seriously consider Mr Ratcliffe’s request to accompany him when he makes an official visit to Tehran later this year.
Mr Ratcliffe, an accountant from Hampstead in North London, said he had spoken to his wife yesterday.
He said: ‘She has been very angry for a number of days. Her mood has become uncontrollable. She loses her temper over the smallest things.
‘She expressed anger at the guards, but also at the Foreign Secretary, that it had become such a shambles. Angry at the original comments, angry at the footage of avoiding the question.’
Mr Ratcliffe said Mr Johnson had told him he was ‘deeply sorry for Nazanin’s suffering’, but did not say if the Foreign Secretary had made a personal apology for his blunder.
The family’s local MP Tulip Siddiq told Sky News that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had sobbed inconsolably during an earlier phone call with her husband, saying: ‘She just said that she couldn’t believe that Boris Johnson would make those comments.
‘This is life or death. This is a young mother who could die if the Foreign Secretary doesn’t retract his comments promptly, if he doesn’t go to Iran and get her back.’
Despite days of political pressure over Mr Johnson’s apparent gaffe, Mr
Gove faltered when he was asked why Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran, saying yesterday: ‘I don’t know.’
He added: ‘One of the things I want to stress is there is no reason why Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe should be in prison, so far as any of us know.’
Labour MP Chris Matheson accused Mr Gove of ‘astonishing stupidity’.
Brexit Secretary David Davis defended Mr Johnson, saying: ‘Why would you want to sack him – he’s a good Foreign Secretary.’