Picture copyright PA Media Pictu
Picture copyright
PA Media
Mr Ratcliffe, with five-year-old daughter Gabriella, who final 12 months began faculty within the UK
Boris Johnson will meet the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe later, the British-Iranian lady jailed in Iran, to debate efforts to convey her dwelling.
Richard Ratcliffe stated he wished to carry Mr Johnson to a promise he made in 2017 to “depart no stone unturned” to safe her launch.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained for nearly 4 years over spying allegations she denies.
Her five-year-old daughter may even be on the assembly in No 10 on Thursday.
Mr Ratcliffe final met Mr Johnson when he was overseas secretary in 2017.
That assembly got here shortly after Mr Johnson needed to apologise after wrongly suggesting that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been coaching journalists on the time of her arrest.
Throughout Thursday’s assembly, Mr Ratcliffe stated he hopes to obtain a reputable sense from Mr Johnson that his spouse’s case is a precedence for him.
Picture copyright
PA Media
Mr Johnson met Mr Ratcliffe on the Overseas Workplace in November 2017
Picture copyright
PA Media
Earlier than her arrest Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe lived in London with accountant Mr Ratcliffe
Kate Allen, director of Amnesty Worldwide UK, stated the assembly with Mr Johnson was a “welcome step”.
She added: “Given latest deeply unsettling occasions in Iran, it is now all of the extra necessary that Boris Johnson supplies correct reassurances to the household that actual and concerted efforts are being made on the highest ranges to safe Nazanin’s launch.”
Courtroom case
The assembly comes because the Courtroom of Attraction in London prepares to listen to a case that may resolve a decade-long monetary dispute between the UK and Iran.
The dispute is over the curiosity due on a debt owed by Britain to Tehran for an arms deal within the 1970s that was by no means fulfilled.
Mr Ratcliffe stated his spouse is a chess piece within the dispute, which he calls a festering sore in relations between the 2 international locations – and he plans to ask Mr Johnson how he’ll remedy it.
He has beforehand raised issues that the latest escalation in tensions between the US and Iran – sparked by the US killing of top military leader Qasem Soleimani – may make issues worse for his spouse.
Media playback is unsupported in your gadget
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 40, stays on medicine for melancholy and on beta blockers – medicines which decelerate the center – for the panic assaults she’s been struggling in jail, her husband said.
The twin nationwide has been detained since 2016, when she took her British-born daughter Gabriella to Iran to have fun the nation’s new 12 months and go to her dad and mom. She was sentenced to 5 years in jail for spying.
Her household and the UK authorities has all the time maintained her innocence and she or he has been given diplomatic protection by the Overseas Workplace – which means the case is handled as a proper, authorized dispute between Britain and Iran.
Media playback is unsupported in your gadget
Whereas he was overseas secretary, Mr Johnson mistakenly stated that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been in Iran coaching journalists when she was arrested.
4 days later Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was summoned to an unscheduled courtroom listening to throughout which Mr Johnson’s feedback had been cited as proof she was engaged in “propaganda in opposition to the regime”.
Mr Ratcliffe beforehand stated: “We have been fairly clear in public that I really feel he owes us and that he must do what he can to convey Nazanin dwelling and to convey [home] the others held over related causes.”
He added: “As we’re on the precipice of very darkish instances, it will probably solely assist that optimistic gestures are made.”
Media playback is unsupported in your gadget
On Tuesday, Mr Ratcliffe met the UK’s ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, who was himself arrested in Tehran – an arrest which Britain has condemned as unlawful.
Mr Macaire was briefly held after attending an occasion marketed as a vigil for the 176 people…