• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Politics

Richard Ratcliffe hunger strike: How Johnson hurt Nazanin’s case

As Ratcliffe embarks on his sixteenth day of hunger strike, a reminder of how the prime minister contributed to Nazanin's predicament.

Andra Maciuca by Andra Maciuca
2021-11-08 11:55
in Politics
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

As the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe reaches the sixteenth day of his hunger strike, here is a reminder of how Boris Johnson’s comments were used as proof of why she should be put in jail by Iran. 

The prime minister, who was foreign secretary in 2017, was cited saying Nazanin was “teaching people journalism” – something which harmed the British-Iranian national’s case, according to her family.

“When I look at what Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing, she was simply teaching people journalism, as I understand it,” Johnson had said.

Johnson’s off-the-cuff remarks were cited as proof of Nazanin engaging in “propaganda against the regime” in an Iranian court hearing, despite her family and employer, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, saying she was on holiday introducing her daughter, Gabriella, to her grandparents. 

At the time, the Foreign Office said Johnson’s comments provided “no justifiable basis on which to bring additional charges” against Nazanin – and that he was going to phone Iranian officials to “ensure” his remarks were not “misrepresented”. But he did not withdraw them, according to The Guardian.

Richard Ratcliffe and his daughter Gabriella sit outside the Foreign Office during the candlelight vigil this eve. Ratcliffe continues his hungerstrike to continue to highlight the situation of his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, still detained in Iran. Pics @Alamy_Editorial pic.twitter.com/3n50hU0C5X

— Chris 🕷 (@imageplotter) November 5, 2021

Richard Ratcliffe called Johnson’s comments ‘deeply misleading’

But Richard Ratcliffe, Nazanin’s husband, said it was “deeply misleading” for both the British and Iranian governments to suggest Nazanin was held for something she personally did, demanding a clear statement from Johnson which would correct the mistake.

Ratcliffe also said it was “of course, no coincidence” that his wife was taken to trial the first working day after Boris Johnson condemned Iran, and urged the now prime minister to “speak out” and “avoid making false statements”.

RelatedPosts

Diane Abbot claims Johnson is ‘rumoured to be one who likes assaulting women’

The Daily Mail ‘has turned on Boris Johnson’

Sir Keir Starmer vows no freedom of movement under plan to ‘make Brexit work’

Conservatives suffer hat-trick of council by-election defeats

He added: “The issue is not anything Nazanin has done. It is that Iran wants something from the UK, and Nazanin is being used as a pawn by the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] to make that point.

“Wrongly implying that Nazanin was doing something in Iran is particularly dangerous given the failure of the UK previously to stand up for Nazanin’s innocence.”

Tehran said at the time that Nazanin was imprisoned because she ran a BBC Persian online journalism course “aimed at recruiting and training people to spread propaganda against Iran”.

She worked for BBC Media Action several years before her trip – between February 2009 and October 2010 – and later moved to Thomson Reuters Foundation, a charity body linked to the Reuters news agency.

‘Cold decision’

Last week, Ratcliffe criticised Johnson for his “cold decision” to allow Iran to keep “arbitrarily” detaining British nationals.

Ratcliffe, who has been on hunger strike for two weeks outside the Foreign Office in Westminster, said Johnson should use the opportunity of meeting the Iranian delegate at Cop26 to push for the freedom of Britons detained in Evin prison.

Nazanin has carried our several hunger strikes of her own, the longest of which had lasted 15 days, her husband said.

I paid Richard Ratcliffe a visit last night and he kindly let me take this #photo of him. The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has gone on hunger strike outside the @FCDOGovUK to persuade @trussliz to do more to bring his wife back from her detention in Iran.#FreeNazanin pic.twitter.com/vTwUIRJroJ

— Matt Capon (@MattLCapon) November 6, 2021

Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday, as he began his sixteenth day on hunger strike outside the Foreign Office, Ratcliffe said: “I’m definitely looking rougher and feeling rougher.

“I don’t feel hungry but I do feel the cold more. It’s a short-term tactic. You can’t take it too long or you end up in a coma.”

He added that he will have to listen to his body when deciding when to end his hunger strike.

“At this point I will have to start listening to my body,” he said.

“Over the weekend I spent most of the day sitting down. The batteries were really flat.

“One of the things with a hunger strike is you get more stubborn the longer things go on, so you become less able to flexibly let go.”

Related: Nazanin’s hunger-striking husband hits out at Johnson

Tags: Boris JohnsonNazanin Zaghari-Ratclifferichard ratcliffe

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

MPs want national ban on car parking on pavements

Millionaire holding competition to give away his £2.3m mansion for £10.50 a ticket

Scottish independence support ahead in polls for ‘sustained period’

The easiest place to get planning permission in England has been revealed

Concern ending Government ban on evictions will create ‘devastating homelessness crisis’

Lucky Numbers and Horoscopes for today, 11 October 2021

Amazon apologises for tweet denying their drivers need to urinate in bottles

Record Review: Pond – Man, It Feels Like Space Again

British scientists are in a race to study a mysterious ecosystem that has been hidden beneath an Antarctic ice shelf for up to 120,000 years

Young Labour’s statement to Starmer concerning ‘macho posturing’ over Russia

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.