Johnson issues apology over his comments on jailed Briton

BORIS JOHNSON has apologised for claiming the British mother jailed in Iran was teaching journalism after her husband called on him to “solve this mess created in your name”.

Addressing the House of Commons, the Foreign Secretary vowed to do everything possible to return her to the UK. It follows intense criticism of Mr Johnson over remarks he made to a Commons select committee that cast doubt on Nazanin Zaghari-ratliffe’s claim that she was visiting family.

Mr Johnson said: “The Government has no doubt that Mrs Zaghari-ratcliffe was in Iran on holiday and that was the sole purpose of her visit.

“As I said in the House last week, my remarks on the subject before the foreign affairs select committee could and should have been clearer and I acknowledge that the words I used were open to being misinterpreted and I apologise to Mrs Zaghari-ratcliffe and her family if I inadvertently caused them any further anguish.”

It came as her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, said the Foreign Secretary’s remarks had “raised the stakes” after Iranian state TV used them to justify her detention.

In an open letter in the London Evening Standard, he said: “Nazanin is being held because she is British and is being used as a bargaining chip against the UK, now justified by your words.

“That direct connection of her to you is why I believe my wife should be entitled to diplomatic protection – rather than consular assistance, as she has now. Nazanin is no longer simply a consular case as she has been endangered in a deeper way.

“I want you to solve this mess created in your name. My wife is angry now. She has been in prison for 19 months. She has lost control of her emotions because she has lost all control over her life.”

Pushed to make a full unqualified apology by MPS, some on his own side of the chamber, Mr Johnson admitted his “mistake”, adding: “Of course, I apologise for the distress, for the suffering, that has been caused by the impression that I gave that I believed that she was there in a professional capacity. She was there on holiday.”

He will meet Mr Ratcliffe tomorrow and travel to Iran later this year.