BORIS IS A SHAMBLES
BORIS Johnson yesterday finally met the husband of a British mum jailed in Iran — but wouldn’t agree to give her diplomatic protection.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard described his hour-long talk with the bungling Foreign Secretary as “positive and constructive”.
But when pressed to give diplomatic protection, shambolic Johnson asked how it would help.
Richard, 42, said: “We talked, of course, about the point of diplomatic protection… and it’s different from diplomatic immunity.
“Diplomatic protection is in essence when a state like Britain decides that Nazanin was being treated badly because she is British and she is entitled to be protected as an extension of the British state. It is not unprecedented but it is a big step.
“I said I thought it would be important and helpful. The Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Office expressed reservations and we agreed some questions we have sent from the lawyers. They have agreed to answer the questions and then for the lawyers to sit down and talk it through.”
Johnson had previously apologised for wrongly telling Parliament that Nazanin, 38, had been teaching journalists in Iran – a statement which could have landed her a longer prison sentence.
The Iranians claim Nazanin used her job as a charity worker for the Thomson Reuters Foundation as cover for plotting against the state.
Asked what reservations Johnson had about diplomatic protection status, Richard said: “He didn’t personally give a long list of objections.
“He asked how it would help, in a nutshell. What did we think doing it would make different from what we are doing currently?
“I said, ‘I’m not a lawyer, I think it would help, I think it would send an important signal that the way Nazanin is being treated is unacceptable’.
“I appreciate it’s an escalation, but I think… it’s important that where softlysoftly doesn’t work, where it has been escalated by the past couple of weeks’ events and the Foreign Secretary’s words being used, I think it is appropriate. We agreed to keep talking about it.”
Richard expressed concern for his wife’s state of health.
He said: “She talks about being on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I absolutely believe that’s true.
“I think it’s important I don’t exaggerate anything in the media but she is in a difficult place.”
Johnson also told Richard he was “keen” for him to travel with him on a visit to Iran.
Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, who accompanied Richard to the meeting, said Johnson had not ruled out diplomatic protection.
Siddiq, who is Nazanin’s MP in London, described the meeting as “encouraging”.
She said Richard had been unable to obtain a visa to visit Iran for the last 19 months and had not seen his daughter Gabriella, who is living in the country with her maternal grandparents, during that time.
Siddiq said: “If he gets to go with the Foreign Secretary, he gets to see his daughter for the first time in 19 months.”