The husband of jailed British mum Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is demanding an urgent meeting with Britain’s new PM Boris Johnson .
After fresh talks with Foreign Office officials on Friday, Richard Ratcliffe now wants to speak with Johnson and new Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab as soon as possible.
After Friday’s meeting, Mr Ratcliffe revealed to the Sunday Mirror: “I told them I want to meet with the new Foreign Secretary as soon as possible and also the Prime Minister – because obviously he has been very personally connected to Nazanin’s case.
“We’ll know how important we are by how long we have to wait. Hopefully it will be within the first few weeks of him being in office.”
Mr Ratcliffe wants assurances Johnson is committed to freeing Nazanin, who has been held by the Iranian government since April 2016.
He also wants the PM to acknowledge his part in her continued imprisonment under charges of spying, which Nazanin, 40, vehemently denies.
During his stint as Foreign Secretary, Johnson said the charity worker had been in Iran with her little daughter Gabriella “teaching people journalism”.
Iran then used the PM’s incorrect comments to justify jailing her.
Richard said: “I need to have a conversation with the Prime Minister and say, ‘Hey, listen, you need to sort this. We were looking to you to be Nazanin’s hero and you promised us things and then it didn’t happen.’...He needs to show that he can keep his promises.”
Former foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt granted Nazanin diplomatic protection in a bid to resolve her case.
But Richard said his wife, who was handcuffed to a bed in solitary confinement, is worried about Raab and Boris.
He said: “Nazanin has been feeling anxiousness about the change in government. She was very sad to see Jeremy Hunt leave because he clearly cared and genuinely did what he could.
“Now we need to see what the new guys in charge are going to do.”
