There’s a mistake to solve, Boris...
Jailed Brit’s hubby urges Tory hopeful to honour promise
THE husband of a British mother jailed in Iran has urged Boris Johnson to “solve past mistakes” by helping to secure her release.
Richard Ratcliffe said he is “looking for delivery” from the Tory frontrunner to be Prime Minister.
As Foreign Secretary in 2017, Mr Johnson wrongly said charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been training journalists in Iran. His gaffe is believed to have worsened her sentence for spying.
Mr Johnson pledged to free Nazanin, 40, but left office last year without doing so. Nazanin has now been in jail, separated from Richard and daughter Gabriella, five, for three years. Londoner Richard urged Mr Johnson to visit him at the Iranian embassy in the capital, where he is camping while on hunger strike at the same time as his wife in Tehran.
He said: “I’m not looking for an apology, I’m looking for delivery. There is a mistake to solve. “The clearest way Boris can show he cares is to come and visit and show solidarity. I want to remind him that he promised to leave no stone unturned.”
Last night, Mr Johnson refused to take responsibility for his handling of the case. He told the Channel 4 leadership debate: “If you point the finger at the UK, all you are doing is exculpating those who are truly responsible, which is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.” Nazanin, a British-Iranian citizen, was visiting her family when she was arrested in Tehran in 2016. She got a five-year jail term.