Anoosheh Ashoori accuses Boris Johnson of opportunism in asking to meet
The 68-year-old husband and father arrived back in the UK last week.
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Your support makes all the difference.Anoosheh Ashoori has accused Boris Johnson of opportunism after the Prime Minister asked to meet with him following his release from detention in Iran.
The 68-year-old husband and father, a retired civil engineer, was arrested in August 2017 while visiting his elderly mother in Tehran.
He did not return to the UK until last week when he touched down at Brize Norton on the same plane as charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
Mr Ashoori said he is unsure whether he will meet the Prime Minister who he said did not even spare five minutes to call his family while he was jailed in Iran.
Appearing on Sky Newsā Beth Rigby Interviews, Mr Ashoori said his wife Sherry Izadi did not get a response from Mr Johnson when she contacted him about her husbandās case.
Mr Ashoori also told the broadcaster about a voice message he himself sent Mr Johnson, explaining: āThat was during the time of the Covid that I was angry because at the same time I was blaming those who had captured us I was blaming the British government, why donāt you do anything about it?ā
He added: āI was really angry and thatās why I decided to send that voice message hoping that it would make a change.ā
Asked about whether his wife got a response, Mr Ashoori said: āNo and it took Richard a hunger strike.ā
Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, went on hunger strike twice during his wifeās detention.
Asked again whether his wife had heard back from Mr Johnson, Mr Ashoori said: āNo. Unfortunately. She made many attempts and all of them were unsuccessful.ā
Now Mr Johnson wants to meet them, according to Mr Ashoori.
āLast night we received a letter, now heās eager to see us. How would you interpret that?ā he said on the programme.
Asked how he feels about it, Mr Ashoori said: āI think that itās a bit of opportunism involved in it at the same time as all of this has happened under his command.
āSo one could argue that it was the British government, the present British government, that succeeded in doing that which is correct, the same time you could say that why didnāt you contact us, my family and now you are eager to do that.
āHow would you expect us to absorb that? How would you expect us to think of you with this letter now? Why couldnāt this letter be sent five months ago, a year ago, two years ago? Why now?ā
Asked if he will see Mr Johnson, he said: āIām not sure.ā
Mr Ashoori said he ā100%ā agreed with what Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had said during a press conference about how she should have been released six years ago.
Mr Ashoori said: āI agree with Nazanin 100%. She in fact put her finger on the right button by saying that.
āShe should have been here years ago if that debt was paid. That wasnāt a ransom that was a debt that the British government owed.
āIt should have been paid and if it was paid perhaps none of this would have happened. So yes, I feel a bit angry.ā
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe said it had taken too long for the Government to pay a Ā£400 million debt to Iran, which helped secure her release.
Speaking about his time in Evin Prison, Mr Ashoori said: āLiterally that was the valley of hell.
āBecause in addition to your own suffering you see the suffering of all the people who are around you.
āEach of them in their own different way. Marriages are breaking up. Families are disintegrating.
āAnd I was reasoning with myself that when I know that I am innocent I am here, so everybody else can be innocent and be there.ā
ā Beth Rigby Interviewsā¦ is on Sky News at 9pm on Thursday. Also available on the Sky News YouTube channel.