Husband hopes wife is home for Christmas

The husband of jailed British mother Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe has declared there is “still a chance” she may be released from an Iranian prison before Christmas.

Richard Ratcliffe said his wife, who was arrested last year while taking their daughter, Gabriella, to visit her grandparents, imagines her homecoming clearly. Mr Ratcliffe, from London, has not lost hope of having his wife and daughter back in the UK by 25 December. He said he plans for the three of them to go and buy a tree on Christmas Eve.

“It feels like there’s still a chance,” he said. “It feels it’s important for me to say that to Nazanin, to keep that hope alive.”

Mrs Zaghari-ratcliffe is serving a five-year sentence over allegations of plotting to overthrow the Tehran government.