When I woke up last Friday and glanced at my phone, I was immediately filled with dread.
Scrolling through Twitter, report after report confirmed that U.S. forces had assassinated Qassem Soleimani, the all-powerful 62-year-old head of the Quds Force, the clandestine foreign wing of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Many horrified social media users expressed disbelief at such a seismic event. How could President Trump do this? Was he setting us on the path to World War III?
Richard Ratcliffe was left preoccupied with the question of whether the ordered assassination of Qassem Soleimani by President Trump would seal the fate of his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
But I was preoccupied by a far more personal question: did this act seal the fate of my wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been imprisoned in Iran for nearly four years on trumped-up charges of espionage? Would I see her again?
It couldn’t have come at a more gut-wrenching time.
I had just shared my first Christmas with Gabriella, our five-year-old daughter, since her mother was imprisoned back in April 2016.
Horrified
After my wife was arrested, Gabriella had her passport confiscated and lived in Tehran with Nazanin’s family. It meant she could visit her mother once a month.
Without the two most important people in my life, I hadn’t much felt like celebrating Christmas throughout those years apart.
But last October, we finally got clearance for Gabriella to move back to Britain to start school. And although Nazanin wasn’t with us, I was determined to make this Christmas special for Gabriella.
It was a magical, if bittersweet affair. Having been brought up largely in Iran, she doesn’t speak much English or know much about Christmas. But she was delighted with the presents in her stocking and threw herself into the carol singing.
While she has been imprisoned in Iran for nearly four years on trumped-up charges of espionage, their daughter Gabriella (pictured) had her passport confiscated. She lived in Tehran with Nazanin’s family
Indeed, it is a huge testament to Nazanin, and her family in Iran, that in spite of everything Gabriella is such a bright and cheerful little girl.
That didn’t make it any easier for Nazanin, who was stuck in prison and on hunger strike in solidarity with other prisoners. When I spoke to her on the phone on Christmas Day she sounded flat.
But the next time we spoke, the day after Soleimani’s assassination, her mood was much bleaker. She was horrified by the implications.
She, along with other prisoners from Western countries, are being held by the Revolutionary Guard on fabricated charges, pawns in Iran’s conflict with the West.
At first she could not believe what had happened. She had seen the reports on Iranian TV in the prison, but she and her fellow inmates were unsure whether the news had been invented by the state-controlled media.
When I confirmed it was true, her despair was palpable, even though she was behind bars 4,000 miles away.
My wife now believes there is no chance she will be released in the near future.
Worse still, she is terrified that an angry Revolutionary Guard will make her serve a second sentence.
Ratcliffe finally got clearance for Gabriella to move back to Britain to start school, in October
And, like many Iranians, she is beside herself with worry about what the future holds for the country. Iranians are tired of war and do not want to be caught in the middle of a devastating conflict.
As someone who spends every waking moment campaigning for Nazanin’s release, I share these fears.
At the very least, it is highly likely Soleimani’s death will have made it harder for Gabriella and me to be reunited with her mother.
That is why I am anxious to meet Boris Johnson as soon as possible, to understand what is going on. So far, he has not agreed to see me.
Thankfully, Gabriella is far too young to understand what is happening in the news, but life is hard for her without her Iranian family and, most of all, without her mother, whom she misses desperately.
Pictured carol singing, the little girl was delighted with presents in her stocking and threw herself into the festive spirit. She is a credit to her mother that in spite of everything Gabriella is such a bright and cheerful little girl
This morning, as Gabriella attends her first proper day at school, she will ask again why her mother isn’t with us. Still, she is excited and I am both proud and heartbroken to be waving her off on my own.
Nazanin would have wanted so desperately to be there for her daughter’s first day, to brush her hair, help with her uniform, take her into the classroom and give her a hug.
I am urging the Prime Minister to show real leadership and ensure this crisis doesn’t get worse, for the sake of my wife and the other Western detainees illegally held in Iran.
So I was encouraged to read yesterday that he has finally spoken out and called for de-escalation. A calm, collected approach is needed now more than ever.
He described his wife’s mood as bleaker since the ordered killing of Soleimani. Nazanin now believes there is no chance she will be released in the near future. Worse still, she is terrified that an angry Revolutionary Guard will make her serve a second sentence
The mother has been held in an Iranian prison since April 2016 on trumped-up spying charges. Pictured above is her husband and five-year-old daughter Gabriella, who was allowed to return to the UK so that she could attend school
Mr Johnson must also plead with President Trump to think of the Western hostages — for that is what they are — held in Iran, to remember them when he is making decisions that could endanger their lives. American policy must be clearer strategically.
And the Prime Minister must honour his pledge to ‘leave no stone unturned’ to get our hostages released.
But Mr Johnson must also realise that the Revolutionary Guard have a ruthless side. We can expect them to respond with fury.
Yet however they retaliate, the Prime Minister and other Western leaders, given the actions of this past week, must reaffirm our values and hold firm to international law.
I say that even though the Revolutionary Guard — who took Nazanin hostage despite her innocence — have terrorised our family and are holding her in a brutal prison where prisoners are tortured with mock executions.
Hostages
It is far harder to urge them to uphold the law when America, our ally, appears to play fast and loose with it.
It makes things dangerous for us all, especially those trapped in the middle.
What happens now depends in part on the UK’s response and the clarity of its priorities.
The husband of Iran prisoner Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (pictured with daughter Gabriella in happier times) has asked for a meeting with Boris Johnson over her ‘desperate’ plight for his wife’s return to the UK
Our Government must decide what to do about the £400 million debt it owes Iran over an arms deal. When he was Foreign Secretary, Mr Johnson indicated that this debt would be paid to secure the release of Nazanin and other British hostages.
So far he has not kept his promise. He talks of protecting British interests, seemingly shipping routes and oil.
That’s all very well. But what about British citizens? What about protecting their lives?
Ever since Nazanin’s arrest, normal life has been on hold for our family. Last night Gabriella asked again when Mummy was coming home: ‘Will it be tomorrow?’
‘Probably not,’ I said, ‘But soon I hope.’
Even as I said it, I knew our family’s chances of being reunited have been, at the very least, delayed.