‘ I DON’T WANT BORIS TO RESIGN – I WANT HIM TO RESOLVE THIS’
Last week, a mistake made by Boris Johnson risked doubling the prison sentence of British mother Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe, 38, in Iran. In the wake of calls for Johnson to resign, her husband Richard, 42, says they need the Government’s help now more tha
MY HOUSE LOOKS LIKE
a welcoming family home: the kitchen cupboards are plastered with my daughter’s scribbles, baby toys fill boxes and my wife’s clothes hang in the wardrobe. Except, my daughter, Gabriella, is now three-and-a-quarter and has outgrown the rattles and dollies. She and my wife, Nazanin, haven’t been home for 19 months because Nazanin is serving a five-year prison sentence in Iran. She was arrested at Tehran airport in April 2016 after visiting her parents and the heartache it has caused has been unimaginable.
Last week, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson may have doubled her sentence by incorrectly telling Parliament she was there to train journalists instead of stating the truth – she was on a family holiday. He retracted his remarks, after a lot of pressure, but it’s hard to know whether the damage is done.
As a result, Nazanin was called to trial again, worryingly, in front of a judge with the most severe and hard-line reputation of all. There’s a chance she may be re-tried, which is especially devastating as we hoped that, having served a third of her sentence, she might soon be getting early release.
I was indignant but pleased to hear Johnson raise her case and criticise Iran. Nazanin was traumatised and feared it had made things worse, but is trying to see the positive side; she’s encouraged by the fact he’s said he will visit her. I think the Iranian Revolutionary Guard invented this new case ( latching on to what Johnson said) because they were looking for an excuse to keep her imprisoned. I don’t want Johnson to resign. I want him to make it clear that the British Government stands with us. He could do a lot more to help; now’s the time to start.
I’m so relieved he’s finally agreed to meet me and to visit Nazanin. It’s important he goes as soon as possible and I want to go with him. I’ve always felt attention to the case will help solve it – I still do. But it’s daunting how high the stakes have become.
I speak to Nazanin for an hour a week and she’s been doing better recently. She is on antidepressants and in a ward with interesting, caring, political prisoners. Gabriella, who’s at Nazanin’s parents’ house in Tehran, is allowed to visit for 45 minutes twice a week. I’m not able to fly over because I’ve criticised the government – they wont allow me a visa, so I have to make do with speaking to my daughter on the phone most evenings.
The only things Gabriella can say in English now is ‘I love you’ and ‘I miss you Mummy and Daddy’. The only way we can speak is with Nazanin’s family translating. We try to make her focus on us all being home for Christmas. We have to stay hopeful – hope is all we have to keep us strong. I’ve promised I won’t buy our tree until they’re here to decorate it. We hope the noise Johnson has caused will raise the profile of Nazanin’s case and bring her home.