19 Mar 2024
Tuesday 7 November 2017 - 16:39
Story Code : 282345

British Foreign Secretary to call Irans Zarif over dual citizens case

Tasnim British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson would call his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual Iranian-British citizen held in Iran since April.

Britain's Foreign Office said that Johnson would call Zarif, "to raise again his serious concerns about the case (Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe) and ensure his remarks are not misrepresented," according to AP.

This came after a charity on Monday accused Johnson of leaving Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe facing more prison time by making an inaccurate statement about why she was in Iran.

Johnson told a parliamentary committee last week that she was "simply teaching people journalism as I understand it" when she was arrested at Tehran airport last year.

The Iranian judiciary's High Council for Human Rights said Johnson's comments proved Zaghari-Ratcliffe "had visited the country for anything but a holiday."

Zaghari-Ratcliffe's employer, Thomson Reuters Foundation, claimed she hadn't been working in Iran but was on vacation.

Chief executive Monique Villa said Zaghari-Ratcliffe "is not a journalist and has never trained journalists at the Thomson Reuters Foundation," where she works as a project manager. Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of the news agency.

Villa urged Johnson to correct his "serious mistake," saying it "can only worsen her sentence."

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was apprehended while leaving Tehran for London over her involvement in post-election riots in 2009.
https://theiranproject.com/vdcdox0xkyt0js6.em2y.html
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