Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Husband calls on Boris Johnson to explain why she remains jailed in Iran

Head of prison approved 39-year-old mother’s release months ago, says Richard Ratcliffe

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The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual citizen jailed in Iran for spying, is calling on Boris Johnson to explain why she has not been freed.

Mr Ratcliffe said Iranian authorities had sanctioned her release and it was not clear what was delaying his wife’s return to the UK.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, is serving a five-year prison sentence after being convicted of spying charges in 2016.

The 39-year-old was accused of running a BBC Persian online journalism course and seeking to overthrow the Islamic Republic.

She denies the charges and maintains she was in Iran to introduce her young daughter Gabriella to her parents.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Ratcliffe said there had been positive signs from Iranian authorities, but the family still did not know when the family would be reunited.

He said: “We’ve been getting better messages from the Iranian side, from the judiciary and the prosecutor’s office in Iran.

“This week the head of prison said, ‘Oh yes, I’ve approved her release, I approved it a number of months ago’. So there’s been clearly things to hold on to, hopefully.

“Part of the aspiration of today’s message to the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is I would like to meet to ask what’s the blockage? What’s going on?”

He made the plea for information as protesters on Saturday laid 707 pebbles outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Westminster, representing each day the mother-of-one has been detained.

Boris Johnson has previously said he would leave “no stone unturned” to help free the 39-year-old. Campaigners said the demonstration was to “gently remind” Mr Johnson of his promise to help.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We will continue to approach each case in a way that we judge is most likely to secure the outcome we all want.

“Therefore we will not be providing a running commentary on every twist.”

Mr Ratcliffe has previously claimed his wife remains in jail because Iran and the UK wanted to haggle over the cost of a historic arms deal.

Britain agreed to pay more than £450m to Iran as long ago as 2002, when the UK Treasury and Government-owned arms company International Military Services paid money into the High Court to meet the cost of any settlement.

But Tehran and London disagree on the precise interest rate to be paid by Britain to settle a £450m arrms deal debt, Mr Ratcliffe said.

The debt in question is widely believed to relate to a 1970s agreement to supply British-built Chieftain tanks that went sour after the Shah of Iran was deposed in the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

The British government has always insisted that the disputes over the arms deal and Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe are entirely separate issues.

Additional reporting by PA