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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

Publicity or silence? No formula for success in cases like Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s

Richard Ratcliffe holding a picture of his wife during his hunger strike last year
Richard Ratcliffe holding a picture of his wife during his hunger strike outside parliament last year. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Reuters

In seeking to extract a loved one from the clutches of an authoritarian regime, is it best to follow the advice of the UK Foreign Office and leave it to the discreet professionalism of the diplomatic class, or take a leap into the unknown and go public?

Kim Darroch, the former UK ambassador to Washington, hesitated before agreeing on ITV’s Peston this week that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, had probably been right to ignore the Foreign Office advice.

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