UK ‘facilitating’ Iranian mafia tactics, says husband of Nazanin-Zaghari Ratcliffe

Richard Ratcliffe said the Government's 'job is to make it really clear to Iran that there will be consequences if they don't release her'

Credit: Dominic Lipinski/ PA

The husband of Nazanin-Zaghari Ratcliffe has accused the UK of "essentially facilitating" Iranian mafia tactics after the Government passed on Tehran’s threats over his campaign to free her.  

With Nazanin’s five-year sentence due to end on March 7, Richard Ratcliffe says he went into his regular meeting with the Iran and consular teams of the Foreign Office on Friday seeking assurances that Dominic Raab has a "plan B" if the "Iranians start playing games" and she is not released.

"Five weeks out from the end of her sentence, we are looking for a credible plan and we essentially just got a ‘let’s wait and see’, which has been the story of the last five years," Mr Ratcliffe told The Telegraph. "For the best part of a year they have been talking about this diplomatic push with the Iranians… but I don’t get any sense that things are moving forward."

During the meeting, Nazanin’s family were warned of threats coming from Iran that "something bad" could happen to her or her family if they continued to publicly talk about the fact that her formal sentence is due to end soon.

"They should know that this is a manipulative mafia game and that their job is to make it really clear to Iran that there will be consequences if they don’t release her," said Mr Ratcliffe. "Then here the Foreign Office is essentially facilitating IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] mafia tactics," he added, claiming the Government was shirking its responsibility to protect his family.

Mr Ratcliffe said he still did not know when his next meeting with Mr Raab, the Foreign Secretary, would be, saying he wanted to discuss diplomatic options that may be on the table in case his wife is not released.

For the past five years the family has received repeated direct threats, he said, deciding a long time ago that being public about them was safest for them.

"Threats and manipulations are standard to the Iranian regime’s game," a copy of a complaint sent by Mr Ratcliffe to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Foreign Secretary’s office said. The complain, seen by The Telegraph, added: "None of this context is new – the shock was the Government actively indulging it."

Asked to comment on Mr Ratcliffe’s claims, an FCDO spokesman said: "The Foreign Secretary and FCDO remain in close contact with both Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family, and continue to provide our support. 

"We do not accept Iran detaining dual British nationals as diplomatic leverage. The regime must end its arbitrary detention of all dual British nationals."