YOUR MESS..YOU FIX IT, BORIS
Jailed Brit’s husband demands Foreign Secretary gets her home
THE husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has ordered Boris Johnson to get her out of jail in Iran.
Richard Ratcliffe told him to fix the gaffe that may double his wife’s term. He said: “I want you to solve this mess created in your name.”
THE husband of jailed Brit Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe yesterday accused Boris Johnson of putting his wife in danger with the blunder that could double her jail sentence in Iran.
Richard Ratcliffe wrote an open letter to the Foreign Secretary demanding he step up efforts to release the 38-year-old mum, who was accused of spying while in the country with their daughter.
It came after Mr Johnson finally apologised for wrongly stating Nazanin was in Iran “training journalists” – comments Tehran seized on as “proof ” she was not there as a tourist.
In a desperate bid to save his job after Tories and Labour MPs called for him to be axed, he retracted suggestions she was acting in a professional category.
Richard wrote: “Your mistake in saying that Nazanin was in Iran training journalists – as opposed to the reality: that she was there on holiday with our daughter Gabriella, visiting her family – has raised the stakes for my wife.
“Your words are being used against her by Tehran to rationalise her imprisonment and as grounds for a new court case against her.
“She was on the news in Iran again on Saturday night; the broadcaster repeated the argument that you had ‘revealed’ Nazanin’s so-called crimes. The net
effect of that is that she is in danger. I want you to solve this mess created in your name. The Foreign Office refuses to acknowledge she faces a longer sentence because of your words. The stress is taking a physical toll on her.
“It is time for the Government to take responsibility for Nazanin’s suffering and its role in prolonging it.”
Richard also told Mr Johnson that three-year-old Gabriella is suffering because her mum has been in jail for 18 months and could now have her five-year term extended.
The Foreign Secretary flew home from Brussels to answer an urgent question on the case in the Commons.
But he came under fire over suggesting his comments may have been “misinterpreted” or taken out of context. Labour’s Emily Thornberry told him: “It is not good enough. If it is a matter of pride that the Foreign Secretary is refusing to admit simply that he has made a mistake, I feel bound to say to him that his pride matters not one ounce compared to Nazanin’s freedom.”
Mr Johnson replied: “Of course I apologise for the distress and suffering that has been caused by the impression that I gave that the Government believe, and I believe, that she was there in a professional capacity. She was there on holiday.
“I do apologise, and of course I retract any suggestion that she was there in a professional capacity.”
But Nazanin’s boss at the Thomson Reuters Foundation branded Mr Johnson’s comments a “huge, huge gaffe”. Monique Villa said: “She has not trained journalists because she had never been a journalist. She is a project manager. I have no idea how he could commit this mistake.”
Mr Johnson is due to meet Richard tomorrow and said he would try to visit Iran “before the end of the year” in a bid to bring Nazanin home.
The pair will discuss the possibility of her being offered diplomatic protection. That would raise her plight from a consular case to a formal dispute between the two countries – the best method to speed her release.
Richard, who wants to join the Foreign Secretary on the forthcoming trip and visit his wife in jail, said last night: “There is a way in which the Government will stand up and protect her much more stridently if she is given diplomatic protection.
“And it is something for them to decide whether they want to or not.”
But he declined to join calls for Mr Johnson to be sacked.