BORIS Johnson failed to offer an apology for his handling of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s detention in Iran when he finally met her on Friday, according to her husband.
Weeks after her release from a six-year detention in the country, the couple and their MP Tulip Siddiq met with the Prime Minister in Downing Street.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained on April 3, 2016, by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Imam Khomeini airport after a holiday visit with daughter Gabriella to her parents.
A year on from her detention, Johnson, then foreign secretary, told a parliamentary committee that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been training journalists in Iran – rather than on a family visit.
This comment was used by authorities in Tehran as evidence for Zaghari-Ratcliffe working against the state at the time of her arrest.
Her eventual release in March followed months of intensive diplomatic negotiations between London and Tehran.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard Ratcliffe and daughter Gabriella as they leave 10 Downing Street
Ratcliffe long claimed that his wife was used as a pawn in a dispute between the UK and Iran over unpaid debt linked to an arms deal. It was confirmed that the UK paid the £393.8 million owed to Iran “in parallel” with the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other detainees.
After the meeting with Johnson on Friday Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been critical of the UK Government for the delay in securing her release, did not speak to the media.
Instead, her husband and Siddiq faced reporters. Asked if the Prime Minister apologised during their first meeting since her release, Ratcliffe told reporters in Downing Street: “Not specifically.”
The Prime Minister looked “quite shocked” when Zaghari-Ratcliffe told him she had lived in the “shadow of his words” for “the best part of four-and-a-half years”, the MP added.
She told broadcasters: “I was really proud of Nazanin. She was sitting next to the Prime Minister, and she told him very clearly and categorically that his words had had a big impact on her and that she had lived in the shadow of his words for the best part of four-and-a-half years.
“I have to say the Prime Minister looked quite shocked, I think, when she said that, but I was really proud she did say that because she wanted to make it clear to him that she’s happy now, she’s grateful, she appreciates the fact that she is home now, but there was a time when the words had a big impact.”
Put to him that he must have felt angry that the Prime Minister’s words had had such a big impact on his wife during her detention in Iran, Ratcliffe said: “No, no … I’m relieved she’s home.”
He said: “I think there is a process to dig through what went wrong, what might have gone better, and probably what could be done to protect people better going forwards.”
Ratcliffe added that Boris Johnson thanked Zaghari-Ratcliffe for a hat she had made for his son, Wilfred, during their meeting.
“In fairness to the Prime Minister, he thanked Nazanin for … she’d made a hat for Wilfred when he was born, his son. So (he) thanked her for the things that she’d sent.”
He went on: “I don’t think it was an abrasive meeting. We are here in happier circumstances than in previous meetings. I’m glad we are.”
Ratcliffe said there was not necessarily “closure” for the family after the meeting, as he reiterated his call for Johnson to give evidence to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry into the handling of the case.
Siddiq confirmed that Johnson said he would “look into that”.
