Johnson criticised over Iran jail mum ‘failure’
THE Prime Minister has been criticised for a “dismal failure” in trying to secure the release of British-Iranian “hostage” Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe.
The mother-of-one was handed a fresh jail term of one year and a year-long travel ban in Iran on Monday, which her husband, Richard, has described as “open-ended detention”.
Labour’s Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn), Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s MP, questioned what effort the Prime Minister has put into releasing her constituent, before telling the Commons: “I’ve seen no evidence on the part of the Prime Minister so far.
“At the heart of this tragic case is the Prime Minister’s dismal failure to release my constituent and to stand up for her, and his devastating blunder in 2017 when he was foreign secretary – when he exposed his complete ignorance of this tragic case, and put more harm in Nazanin’s way.
“The Prime Minister did not even arrange for UK officials to attend Nazanin’s recent court hearing, which might have ensured she got a free and fair trial. He still hasn’t got his Government to pay the £400m debt that we as a country owe Iran.
“We MPs might be many things but we’re not naive. We cannot deny the fact that Nazanin was handed a fresh new sentence a week after the IMF’s debt court hearing was delayed.”
Britain is thought to owe Iran as much as £400m over the non-delivery of tanks in 1979, with the shipment stopped because of the Islamic revolution.
Ms Siddiq also asked: “Will the minister acknowledge that Nazanin is being held hostage by Iran?”