Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe case: Johnson urged to bring jailed woman home

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe case: Johnson urged to bring jailed woman home
By Euronews
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button
Copy/paste the article video embed link below:Copy to clipboardCopied

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson heads to Iran in an effort to win release of dual national.

ADVERTISEMENT

Bring Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe 'home for Christmas'! That's the mission facing Boris Johnson.

The UK Foreign Secretary will head to Tehran this weekend in an effort to free the British-Iranian mother amid fears that her jail sentence will be increased by another five years after comments he made.

The 38-year-old has been held behind bars in Iranian capital for nearly two years on charges of spying trying to topple the Iranian establishment. She is due back in court on Sunday December 10.

Euronews spoke to Richard Ratcliffe, who has been campaigning for his wife's release, late last month.

"It's really not a good sign that A she's been taken to court on December the 10 and B there's this sought of very aggressive propaganda campaign that's been put out in the media.........she's been very fragile and been down to the doctor's quite a lot and again was trying to see a psychiatrist just to be able to talk through and that had been banned for a few weeks. So, I mean I have deep worries about her mental health," Ratcliffe said.

Concerns about the dual national's psychological well-being were prompted after the Foreign Secretary said she'd been training journalists in Iran.

Johnson acknowledged the gaffe after critics demanded his resignation, later backing up her story that she had simply been on holiday to visit family. Johnson now faces the tricky diplomatic task of not only raising Zaghari-Ratcliffe's plight, but also putting UK and Iranian relations on a better footing. For now, he has played down any expectation of an immediate breakthrough in her case.

Share this articleComments

You might also like

Diplomatic discussions: Boris Johnson meets Iranian counterpart

G7 allies warn Iran not to provide Russia with ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine

China, Iran and Russia begin joint naval drill in Gulf of Oman