Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe’s husband vows to continue hunger strike

The husband of jailed British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has vowed to continue his hunger strike outside Whitehall following a “frustrating” meeting with the foreign secretary.

Richard Ratcliffe, who began the protest on Sunday, said Liz Truss must be “brave” in order to secure the release of his wife, who has been detained in Iran on spying charges since 2016.

He admitted he and his team had been left frustrated by the outcome of a meeting with the foreign secretary to discuss further strategy around attempts to free Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, but said Ms Truss had been “open to things”.

Speaking after the meeting on Thursday, he said: “The meeting went as I feared it might in the fact that the foreign secretary didn’t actually give us anything new.

“I think we all came away feeling a bit frustrated. The problem is not the minister caring... but in the end the policy approach wasn’t changing.

“She’s a fresh set of eyes, she definitely said she was open to things.

“(But) I’ve had conversations like that with her predecessors, the government is too timid – and that timidity causes harm.”

Vowing to continue his hunger strike, he added: “We’re looking to provoke a reaction, that reaction was a meeting but the meeting was a reiteration of the status quo.

“That’s not quite the change we’re looking for so we’ll keep going.”

Mr Ratcliffe’s dramatic action outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office marks the second time he has taken such measures in two years after a hunger strike outside London’s Iranian embassy in 2019, which saw him refuse food for 15 days.

Two tents have been pitched off Whitehall, with signs reading “Free Nazanin” along with flowers and a collection of small, coloured rocks.

The move comes following the recent news his wife lost her appeal against a second jail sentence in Iran.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, from Hampstead, north London, was jailed for five years in Tehran back in 2016 after being accused of plotting against the country’s regime. Following her release earlier this year, she was charged and sentenced to another year allegedly for spreading propaganda.

The mother-of-one is currently living with her parents in Tehran but is unable to leave the country and risks being sent back to prison at any time after losing the appeal.

Mr Ratcliffe was joined in the meeting by members of his family and his MP, Tulip Siddiq, who said she “desperately” hopes to find solutions to the situation.

The Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn raised the issue of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s ongoing imprisonment in Iran with an urgent question in the House of Commons on Monday.

She said: “Today, Richard is on hunger strike on the foreign secretary’s doorstep in Westminster in Whitehall, pleading with her and the prime minister to do more to challenge Iran’s hostage-taking and to bring Nazanin home to be reunited with him and their daughter, Gabriella.

“Going on hunger strike is the absolute last resort for anyone, and Richard told me that he feels there is no other option left, because he feels our government’s response to his wife’s case has been pitiful.”

Additional reporting by Press Association