LONDON: The husband of detainee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has criticized the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his “cold decision” to allow Iran to keep “arbitrarily” detaining British nationals.
Richard Ratcliffe has been on hunger strike outside the British Foreign Office for two weeks, and told the Press Association he intended to continue the strike until the middle of next week.
“I’m feeling a lot flatter, it’s almost as if the batteries are a bit flat,” he said.
“As the days go on, the tiredness is a bit more obvious. But I’m still going and still grateful for everyone who’s coming along.
“But it is my intention still to be here when the Iranian delegation are in the UK.
“They are due to come on Sunday so I at least intend on being here until the middle of next week,” he added.
Ratcliffe said he wanted Boris Johnson to “take responsibility” and push for his cause, especially with the arrival of the Iranian delegate at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
“It is a cold decision to let the Iranian government keep British nationals hostage, like Nazanin,” he said.
“What I would like him to say to the Iranian delegation is that this can’t go on. We should find a way.
“He’s got an opportunity this week — he should take it.”
Ratcliffe added that his wife, a British-Iranian dual national who has been in Iranian custody since 2016 after being accused of plotting to overthrow the government, “lives in a state of permanent anxiety” in prison.
