by Bethany Rielly

BORIS JOHNSON should be ashamed of his government’s “unconscionable” inaction to secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from detention in Iran, her husband has said. 

Richard Ratcliffe is nearing two weeks on hunger strike outside the Foreign and Commonwealth and Development Office in his latest bid to demand that ministers do more to get his wife and other British citizens held in Iran back home. 

Speaking to the Morning Star on his 10th day without food on Wednesday evening, Mr Ratcliffe said that the government had lost its moral compass in the handling of these cases. 

“Boris Johnson promised to do things back in 2017 that he’s not kept his word on,” he said. 

“You’ve got British citizens being held over British government debt — how dare you let that happen? 

“It is a failure of diplomacy that it got to that point at the beginning.

“It is an astonishing indictment of [the government’s] policy choices that [it has] let that linger for five-and-a-half years. And I don’t think there’s been much accountability for that.

“Boris Johnson as the leader, as the PM, he should be ashamed.”

Mr Ratcliffe said that it was “unconscionable” that the British government had, after five-and-a-half years, failed to pay back the outstanding £400 million debt to Iran over a 1970s arms deal. 

The sum has been suggested as one of the reasons for his wife’s arrest in 2016 while she was visiting her mother in Iran with her daughter Gabriella.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was later imprisoned for allegedly plotting against the Iranian regime, and is now under house arrest at her mother’s house in Tehran. 

She is not allowed to return home, and her husband fears she will soon be forced to return to prison after an appeal against her 10-year sentence was rejected last month. 

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe is among at least three British citizens being arbitrarily detained in Iran, including Anoosheh Ashoori, who has been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison for the past four years.  

Mr Ashoori’s son Aryan camped outside with Mr Ratcliffe on Wednesday night in an act of solidarity between the two families. 

“Supporters are taking turns to have someone around in the evening, we are in a street after all,” Aryan told the Morning Star.

He added he would have liked to join the hunger strike as well but was worried this would have distressed his father. 

Aryan said that his father went on hunger strike for 18 days near the beginning of his sentence. While in prison he has been subjected to psychological torture and “intense” interrogations in which he was told his family’s lives were under threat. 

“Afterwards, he tried to commit suicide three times, and this was because he thought if he erased himself from the equation, his family wouldn’t be hurt because they were threatening that they would hurt his family,” Aryan said.

Mr Ashoori’s son added that another reason for wanting to sleep out in Whitehall was to draw attention to his family’s case, which he said has often been overlooked by the press.

It comes after his father’s appeal, like Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe's, was rejected last month, leaving the family with no further legal option to challenge his imprisonment in Iran.

Aryan said he wants to see Mr Johnson go to Iran to “just sit in a room and get it done.”

“If they were serious they could go to Iran tomorrow, but they’re not serious, they don’t care that much.”

The two camped out as temperatures dropped in the capital to two degrees. Mr Racliffe said he felt more tired as a result of the cold, but added he was determined to continue his hunger strike for the time being.

Over the last 10 days, the hunger striker has received a steady stream of supporters including politicians and celebrities, while at least one of his family members has been with him at all times to supply him with hot water bottles and blankets.

It comes two years after Mr Ratcliffe first went on hunger strike outside the Iranian embassy in 2019. Explaining why he decided to target the Foreign Office this time, Mr Ratcliffe said he wanted to shame the British government like he did the Iranian regime two years ago.

“Both are guilty of different crimes,” he said. “Iran is guilty of torture and hostage taking. The UK is guilty of neglect and deflection.”

Mr Ratcliffe added that the consequences of the government’s handling of the case goes “beyond Nazanin” warning that its inaction could put other British citizens at risk, as it “enables hostage taking to prosper.”

The families are calling on ministers to raise the issue with Iranian politicians at Cop26, where a delegation, headed by environment minister Ali Selajegheh, will arrive to Glasgow on November 8.

Mr Ratcliffe said he wanted the Iranian delegation at Cop26 to be “hounded by every media outlet and politicians,” adding: “They can’t operate in the world of Ferrero Roche like they’re a normal state when they act like a mafia taking hostages.”

Visiting the camp on Wednesday evening, Amnesty International interim chief executive Sacha Deshmukh, told the Star he was “horrified” that Mr Ratcliffe had been put in a situation where he felt he had to starve himself to push ministers to act.

Echoing calls for politicians to raise the issue at Cop26, he added: “I think absolutely the government should be true to its word that it will be using every opportunity and this is another important moment for the UK to raise Nazanin’s case and other dual nationals held in Iran.”

The FCDO was approached for comment.