Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family ‘on the cusp of good news’ as they hope she may be pardoned as soon as tomorrow
- Richard Ratcliffe renewed his call for the Government to get his wife back to UK
- His family have been granted brief respite, speaking to Nazanin over Skype
- Mr Ratcliffe says the family are ‘on the cusp’ of good news over her future
- But he says that he is preparing for the worst in case she goes back to prison
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband says there is some hope his wife could come home, after the supreme leader of Iran announced 3,000 people are being pardoned as part of Eid.
Richard Ratcliffe told Good Morning Britain today that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is enjoying spending time with her daughter on video calls since being released from an Iranian jail.
He revealed that she has been playing dolls with her five-year-old daughter Gabriella over Skype.
Her husband said Nazanin could find out if she is one of the pardoned as early as Wednesday.
Speaking on GMB he said: ‘We are on the cusp of potentially good news.
‘Nazanin’s lawyer was being brought down in front of the prosecutor’s office tomorrow to get a decision on her clemency. So she could be on that list, we don’t know yet.’
Mr Ratcliffe said legally his wife should be on the list ‘because she meets all the criteria’, adding that the family is ‘hopeful’.
‘Nazanin’s been under lockdown for eight weeks,’ he said today. ‘No one can visit her because she’s a high level political prisoner.’
But he added: ‘It’s lovely to be able to speak on Skype to her.’ And he said that during the disruption of the coronavirus crisis, their daughter has been able to play with her mother over video chat.
‘For her the disruption has been mitigated by having Nazanin on the phone and playing dolls with her on Skype,’ he said.
Mr Ratcliffe said that although he felt ‘euphoric’ when he heard his wife could finally be released, he is preparing for the worst.
Pictured: Richard and his daughter, Gabriella, speak on Skype to Nazanin who is being held in Iran
‘It would be great if we could become a normal family,’ he said. ‘There’s a possibility we’ll find out on Wednesday there’s a chance we’ll find out in the next couple of weeks if it doesn’t happen in the next couple of weeks we need to think it hasn’t happened.
‘Part of me needs to prepare for the fact she might sent back to prison and then keep on campaigning and pressuring the government.’
He renewed his call for the government to do everything they can for his wife, despite Boris Johnson being consumed by the coronavirus pandemic.
‘He’s got a lot going on and the government always does have,’ he told the programme.
‘It’s clear the Foreign Secretary is following this case closely. When I met the Prime Minister back in January he was clear he wanted to do everything he could but after four years part of me doesn’t trust that it will happen.’
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport while taking her young daughter to see her parents in April 2016.
She was sentenced to five years in prison, accused of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, which she denies.
She was later afforded diplomatic protection by the UK Government, which argues that she is innocent and that her treatment by Iran failed to meet obligations under international law.