Boris Johnson holds ‘frank’ talks over release of Briton in Iran

The Foreign Secretary arrived in Tehran yesterday and held “frank” discussions with foreign minister Javad Narif, during efforts to free the mother-of-one, who has been imprisoned since

April last year.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is serving a five-year sentence over allegations that she was plotting to overthrow the Islamic government.

The Anglo-Iranian was arrested during a holiday visit to her parents.

Reports suggest she could appear in court again on Sunday, following threats to increase her sentence by five years following Mr Johnson’s gaffe of telling a parliamentary committee that she

had been in Iran to train journalists.

He later acknowledged this was not so. Because Iranian authorities do not recognise her British citizenship, they have refused her access to British consular officials.

Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, declined an offer to accompany Mr Johnson after receiving advice that it may not help his chances of visiting his wife in future.

When the couple lastspoke by telephone on Tuesday, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was “genuinely worried about the court case and getting quite agitated”, he said.

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You

can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy

Sorry, we are unable to accept comments about this article at the moment. However, you will find some great articles which you can comment on right now in our Comment section.

See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive.