Boris Johnson will call his Iranian counterpart today after it emerged his comments about a British mother in jail in Tehran could add five years to her sentence.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in Iran last year after travelling to the country to take her young daughter Gabriella to visit her parents.
But Iranian police arrested her claiming she was a spy plotting to overthrow the government – which she denies – and was jailed for five years.
Last week Boris Johnson told Parliament Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was ‘teaching’ journalism when she was arrested in 2016 and she was dragged back to court on a ‘propaganda against the regime’ charge which could add five more years to her jail term.
Her husband Richard Ratcliffe told MailOnline Mr Johnson’s incorrect comment has given the Iranians a chance to ‘smear’ his wife and hit her with fresh charges, adding the minister’s intervention left her ‘sobbing down the phone’.
The Foreign Office said last night that Mr Johnson’s comment was ‘misrepresented’ in Iran but did not offer an apology or full retraction.
Mr Johnson, who is facing calls to resign or be sacked, will now phone his Iranian counterpart to underline his position and press for Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release, an official said.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabriella. Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was jailed for five years in Iran for spying but insists she is innocent and only in the country to visit her parents with her young daughter (file pic)
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, pictured with her daughter Gabriella, could have her sentence doubled from five to ten years after the Foreign Secretary wrongly said she had been in Iran training journalists (file photo)
Boris Johnson, pictured entering Downing Street yesterday, will call Iran today to prevent a Briton having her jail term extended after he commented on her case
Downing Street said Mr Johnson and Theresa May have been working on the case for a ‘long period’.
Mrs May’s spokesman said work was underway to establish the ‘facts’ of the case and did not immediately express full confidence in Mr Johnson when pressed by reporters.
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has called for Mr Johnson to resign if Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces an extended jail sentence because of his remarks.
The Iranian judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights said the Foreign Secretary’s statement had shed ‘new light’ on the case.
Mr Ratcliffe told Mail Online: ‘That’s why it is so important that he issues a retraction saying very clearly that she is innocent as far as he is concerned, and doing nothing other than visiting the country with her daughter.
‘I’m still amazed that on day 583 the British Government still has not said ‘this is a mum who’s being held – this is crazy’.
‘Rather than implying that she was doing something and therefore the criminal suspicions are justified.
‘Not issuing a correction makes it look like he’s endorsing what the Iranians are trying to do.’
He said the fresh charge had come as a horrible bolt out of the blue for his wife in Iran.
He said: ‘Nazanin was very shocked and just cried on the phone for most of the call on Saturday when she was taken to court.’
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a dual British and Iranian national, but Tehran does not recognise dual citizenship and have rebuffed all attempts to free her.
Her case has attracted a lot of media coverage and the Foreign Secretary was asked about it when he appeared before a parliamentary select committee last week.
He told MPs: ‘When I look at what Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing, she was simply teaching people journalism as I understand it.
‘(Neither) Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe nor her family has been informed about what crime she has actually committed. And that I find extraordinary, incredible.’
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s employers at the Thomson Reuters Foundation have issued an angry statement demanding that Mr Johnson immediately apologise for the mistake.
Chief executive Monique Villa said: ‘I once again urge Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to immediately correct the serious mistake he made at the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in Parliament.
‘On 1 November he said that Nazanin ‘was training journalists’ in Iran. I have immediately clarified that this is not right as she is not a journalist and has never trained journalists at the Thomson Reuters Foundation where she is project manager in my Media Development team.
‘She was in Iran on holiday to show her daughter Gabriella to her grandparents when she was arrested at Tehran Airport on 3 April 2016.’
Ms Villa also blamed the error for the new propaganda charge and said this ‘can only worsen her sentence’.
She added: ‘She is obviously a bargaining chip between the UK government and Iran and this injustice must stop as soon as possible.
‘Whatever is at stake should be paid attention to by the UK government.’
The Iranian judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights said yesterday: ‘For months it was claimed that Nazanin is a British-Iranian charity worker who went to see her family when she was arrested.
‘Mr Johnson’s statement has shed new light on the realities about Nazanin.’
Ms Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, where Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe lived with her husband before she was arrested, said Mr Johnson must retract his statement.
Boris Johnson (pictured at the Foreign Affairs Select Committee last week) incorrectly told MPs that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was imprisoned in Iran for training journalists in the country. Her bosses have issued an angry statement clarifying she was not training reporters and demanding Mr Johnson to apologise for the gaffe
She added: ‘By suggesting Nazanin was in Iran ‘teaching people journalism’, Boris Johnson has endangered the cause to secure her release. His comments were both untrue and unhelpful to her case.
‘In her 18 months of arbitrary detention in Iran, the Foreign Secretary has yet to visit Nazanin or her family in Tehran.
‘He has also failed to meet with her husband Richard, who has been separated from his wife and their daughter for more than a year and a half.
‘I urge the Foreign Secretary to formally retract his comments, and to stick to his word and take the opportunity to visit Nazanin in Iran at the earliest possible opportunity.’
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s was arrested at Tehran Airport in April last year where she was hit by criminal charges alleging she was visiting Iran as part of a plan to topple the government.
She was found guilty of spying and thrown into prison. The mother-of-one mounted an appeal but lost the final stage of her case in April this year – 12 months after her ordeal began.
She was told she has no more legal avenues open to her and the fresh charge issued at the weekend will only weaken her attempt to clear her name.
The mother of one was initially put into solitary confinement before finally being moved to the women’s ward of Evin prison in Tehran on Boxing Day.
She has been able to have visits from her daughter Gabriella, who has stayed in Iran to live with her grandparents so she can be closer to her mother.
But Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s has suffered from a series of health complaints since being imprisoned, including shoulder and back problems.
Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has hit out at Boris Johnson over the comment and demanded he retract it. She also criticised the Foreign Secretary for failing to visit Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe during her 18 months in prison in Tehran
She has also been prescribed medication to help her sleep which has helped with the panic attacks she had been experiencing, he said.
Allan Hogarth, Amnesty International UK’s head of policy and government affairs, said: ‘Everything that’s happened to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe since she was detained last year suggests the Iranian authorities have been intent on building a bogus criminal case against her.
‘Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a charity worker and mother of a young daughter who’s already been subjected to solitary confinement, a grossly unfair trial and now reportedly faces the threat of a new criminal charge.’
A Foreign Office spokesman issued a statement – but fell short of apologising.
He said: ‘Last week’s remarks by the Foreign Secretary provide no justifiable basis on which to bring any additional charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
‘While criticising the Iranian case against Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the Foreign Secretary sought to explain that even the most extreme set of unproven Iranian allegations against her were insufficient reason for her detention and treatment.
‘The UK will continue to do all it can to secure her release on humanitarian grounds and the Foreign Secretary will be calling the Iranian Foreign Minister to raise again his serious concerns about the case and ensure his remarks are not misrepresented.’