Friday , 29 March 2024

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe latest: Husband hits out at Iran’s ‘lies’ after ‘fresh evidence’ aired

standard – The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has hit out at Iran’s “lies” after it aired more allegations against the London mother that could add 16 years to her prison sentence.


Iranian state TV has broadcast a programme showing pictures of a BBC pay stub and an email from 2010 purporting to show she worked training journalists.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, from Hampstead, has been in prison in Tehran since April 2016, and is serving a five-year sentence for allegedly “plotting to topple” Iran’s government.

The 38-year-old’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, accused Iranian media of prejudicing his wife’s case after airing allegations against her.

He said: “I think it is spectacularly unlikely she will have a fair trial.

“Everything about my experience to date with the Iranian court system has been that it has had little regard for due process, it has been illegal at every stage.

“It is illegal to be prejudicing a trial in Iran this way, but they are still doing it.”

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe worked for BBC Media Action but was employed as a projects assistant only between 2009 and 2010, and was not involved in the BBC Persian service.

Mr Ratcliffe said this information was presented in her first trial, and pointed to the fact that his wife had previously travelled frequently to Iran after her BBC job with no problems.

He called the Iranian TV show “propaganda” and “lies”, and added that the show had gone through his wife’s Gmail account, using information and pictures which he says have been used to create an out-of-context and distorted picture.

A picture of a group of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s fellow mothers in London was “packaged as though they’re sort of a network of spies”, he added.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe explainer
Upon seeing the news while in jail, said Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe collapsed, had a panic attack, and had to be injected with a vitamin B complex and a sedative to calm her down.

Mr Ratcliffe, whose daughter Gabriella remains in Iran with her grandparents, said: “There are grains of truth…and there’s stuff that’s just plain fantasy” in the show.

“It’s partly being done to put pressure on the British government,” he said.

“All along in our case, it’s been political.”

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s mental state has suffered since a blunder by Boris Johnson about her activities in Iran exposed her to the threat of her five-year jail sentence being doubled.

A BBC Media Action spokesperson said: “As we have always made clear, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe never worked for BBC Persian.

“She was not involved in the establishment of BBC Persian TV.

“According to our records, she was employed as a projects assistant between February 2009 and October 2010 for the BBC’s international development charity, BBC World Service Trust (now called BBC Media Action), which operates independently of BBC Persian.

“She further carried out some short-term contract work as an assistant for a project in Iraq for BBC World Service Trust.

“Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was never a journalism trainer but undertook administrative duties such as travel bookings, typing, and filing.”

Reports this week suggested that settlement of a £450 million arms deal debt from the 1970s is part of a shopping list of demands made by Tehran before it will release Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

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