Husband of the British Iranian woman held in Iran jails demands action

 The Guardian, 25 June 2016 - The husband of a British-Iranian woman who has been detained without charge in Tehran for 83 days has spoken of his anger over the Foreign Office’s handling of the matter.
Richard Ratcliffe told the Guardian he felt trade relations had been prioritized over the welfare of his wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and their two-year-old daughter Gabriella. “I don’t think Nazanin and Gabriella’s case, nor any of the others, is a top priority at the moment,” he said, referring to four other British passport holders he understands are being detained in Iran. “The top priority of the Foreign Office is trade.”Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation as a project manager, was arrested at Tehran’s international airport by members of the country’s Revolutionary Guard on 3 April. She had been about to return to the UK from a family visit in her home country. This month the Revolutionary Guard released a statement accusing her of fomenting a “soft overthrow” of the Islamic Republic, which her husband described as “farcical”.
The 37-year-old charity worker has since been held in solitary confinement under interrogation and refused access to a lawyer. If convicted of espionage charges she could face up to 20 years in prison or the death penalty.
Ratcliffe did not meet Foreign Office officials until after he had made his wife’s case public in May, 36 days after her arrest, and then only at his request. “It felt almost like the Foreign Office resented me for going public. I was angry, and I felt gamed,” he said. 
Ratcliffe describes the government’s position as: “‘This is a delicate matter, we’ll hope the Iranians will be nice.’ It’s like, delicate? I mean, if this was your wife? They can use political capital to force the situation. But there has been no public statement of criticism by a senior politician, and the Iranians notice that.” 
Zaghari-Ratcliffe is one of three female dual-citizenship foreign nationals to have been detained by the Revolutionary Guard in the past three months. But whereas since March the US state department website has warned dual-passport holders not to visit Iran, the Foreign Office website does not.
Gabriella’s British passport was confiscated by the Iranian authorities, and she is being looked after by her grandparents. Under Iranian law only her father or mother can bring her home. Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being detained 620 miles from her daughter in Kerman prison. 
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We have been supporting Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family since we were first made aware of her arrest. Minister for the Middle East, Tobias Ellwood, has met personally with the family to reassure them that we will continue to do all we can on this case.” 
The matter is understood to have been raised with Iranian officials, including by the foreign secretary with the Iranian foreign minister.