Boris Johnson can 'redeem himself' by coming back from Iran with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, says husband

British mother could have her sentence extended in court on Sunday. Speaking to The Independent, Richard Ratcliffe says Johnson's visit offers hope 'something good can happen'

The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has told The Independent he hopes Boris Johnson will “redeem himself” on his visit to Iran, and secure his wife’s release.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested on holiday in Iran last year, while visiting her family with her 22-month old daughter Gabriella, and accused of attempting to orchestrate a “soft overthrow” of the Islamic republic. She is now due to appear in court on Sunday on charges of espionage, which threaten to double her five-year sentence to ten.

The Foreign Secretary spent Saturday meeting officials in Iran and calling for Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release. Mr Johnson is due to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday.

In an interview with The Independent, Mr Ratcliffe said: "If he comes back with her, if he comes back and she’s released a couple of days later, then, of course, that more than redeems. Sitting here as her husband, I want her home. He did not cause her to be arrested. No one in the British government caused her to be arrested. She’s been held for a long time and I’ve been pushing the government to do more to get her home. And when they’ve done that, I’ll be eternally grateful to them."

Last month the Foreign Secretary erroneously told a parliamentary select committee that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been in Iran “training journalists.” Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe works as a Project Manager for the charitable foundation of the news company Thomson Reuters, and was in Iran visiting family. Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has always maintained her innocence.

Gabriella is now three and a half and has been in Iran since her mother’s arrest. Mr Ratcliffe showed The Independent some pictures of Gabriella, taken this week.

Richard Ratcliffe with his family (PA)

“Gabriella is three, three and a half now,” he said. “And at three and a half she still doesn’t understand what’s going on. And obviously she’s lost her English so my communication is through translation. So she’s happy to show me a drawing she’s done or show me her dollies. Her wider understanding: she understands that Nazanin is in prison.

"She thinks that daddy is in prison as well. She understands that other children have their mummies and daddies come to pick them up and she lives with her granny instead. So she knows that this is temporary, and that soon it’ll be over.

"But her sense of time as to when this will end, and her sense of time of going back to London, what that means – even what prison is; prison is just where she visits mummy – luckily she’s too young to understand lots of it.”

On Saturday afternoon Boris Johnson said had held "frank" talks with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran over the case. The two-hour meeting with Iranian foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif covered a number of areas, as well as Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe's situation.

Iranian authorities insist that the proceedings against Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe followed the country’s judicial process. They also point out that Iran does not recognise dual nationality and thus she is regarded as an Iranian citizen.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "They discussed the full range of bilateral issues and they both spoke frankly about the obstacles in the relationship, including the Foreign Secretary's concerns about the consular cases of British-Iranian dual nationals.

"Both emphasised their commitment to continuing to work together to improve the bilateral relations.”

Gabriella Ratcliffe (Richard Ratcliffe)

Mr Ratcliffe said he was keeping his “fingers crossed” that Mr Johnson’s visit could bring the ordeal to an end.

“We’re sitting here with fingers crossed, fingernails being bitten, hoping beyond hope that something good can happen,” he said. “I know the Foreign Secretary will be meeting with the Iranian Foreign minister, the Iranian president, the head of national security and people from Iranian parliament. So a lot of important people that hopefully he’ll be able to unlock and find a way to bring her home.

“Having the foreign secretary in Iran at the moment is really important and obviously we’ve been calling for him to try and get there before Christmas – he’s done that. We’ve been hoping he’d get there before her court case – he’s done that.”

Mr Ratcliffe has previously said that news the Iranian regime had started referring to her as a spy had caused her to have a panic attack and require sedation.

“She’d never been called a spy before – that was an increase in the rhetoric,” Mr Ratcliffe said. “And that happened following the Foreign Secretary’s comments. So she was really shocked to the point where she had a complete panic attack and needed injections to sedate her.

Mr Ratcliffe said he was hopeful the court case might be postponed but cautioned that the Foreign Office has warned him there are “no guarantees.”

“Fingers crossed that his presence means the court case is perhaps postponed, perhaps goes better than expected. But also potentially goes worse than expected. But hopefully fingers crossed him being there will hopefully means that, yeah, maybe we won’t have a day in court tomorrow,” he said.

“I do believe that Nazanin can come home before Christmas. I certainly hope it, I’m not sure I expect she’ll be home on the next plane. It was arbitrary when it started, it can end suddenly as well. There are no guarantees. The Foreign Office have said behind closed doors that there are no guarantees. My job is to be a little bit selective in my hearing if I’m honest, and keep hopeful.”