Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Husband ends hunger strike after 21 days

The husband of British-Iranian detainee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has ended his hunger strike after 21 days.

Richard Ratcliffe has been protesting outside the Foreign Office, demanding the government does more to secure his wife's release from Iran.

He said he had promised her he would end the protest, adding their child "needs two parents", and he would now go to hospital for a full check-up.

The Foreign Office says it is doing all it can to help Britons held in Iran.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained in Iran for five years on spying charges and lost an appeal against a second jail sentence in October.

She was arrested there in 2016 while taking the couple's daughter, Gabriella, to see her family, and was accused of plotting to overthrow the government. She served four years of a five-year sentence in Evin prison in Tehran, and one under house arrest.

Her husband, Richard, began protesting on 24 October, hoping to put pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to meet Iranian delegates at the COP26 climate summit and to demand freedom for Britons detained in Iran.

For the past three weeks, he has been sleeping in a small tent in Whitehall, taking in only liquid.

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Mr Ratcliffe said he had started to get pains in his feet overnight and after a chat with his doctor, the decision was made to end the hunger strike.

He said he had told his wife he would end the demonstration if it got to that point because he did not want to "go out in an ambulance" but rather wanted to "walk out with my head held high".

He also said he hoped to eat something after visiting hospital.

Mr Ratcliffe was joined by seven-year-old Gabriella on Saturday and said the hunger strike had been "a lovely experience emotionally" but "tough physically".

"It's only when it stops that you realise quite the toll it's taken on your body," he said.

He offered a "warm thank-you" to everyone who supported him, adding "I wouldn't have got through this alone".

Mr Ratcliffe said his daughter was relieved and happy he was coming home, and it was now his job to recover and think about what the next steps would be.

He said he felt a "greater spotlight" had been shone on his wife's case and he felt as though "we've stopped the backward movement".

His local MP Tuliq Siddiq, who has visited him during his strike, said she had secured a parliamentary debate on Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case on Tuesday which "has cross-party support".

She said she had been in touch with Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was "worried sick" about her husband, to reassure her Mr Ratcliffe was getting medical attention.

Later on Saturday she said Mr Ratclifffe had eaten and was "doing ok".

After a meeting with Foreign Office minister James Cleverly on Thursday, Mr Ratcliffe admitted feeling "fairly deflated" but added he thought the government had seen a "huge depth of care around the country for Nazanin's case".

He also criticised Mr Johnson for not visiting him during his hunger strike, and said: "He hasn't dealt adequately with Nazanin's case for years.

"He hasn't honoured his promises. And we live with those consequences."

He added that Mr Johnson "shouldn't just walk away from promises made".

Mr Johnson had previously been involved in the case when he was foreign secretary. In November 2017, he had to apologise after he was criticised for suggesting Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been training journalists when she was arrested, rather than on holiday.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "Iran's decision to proceed with these baseless charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is an appalling continuation of the cruel ordeal she is going through."

She added the foreign secretary, Mr Cleverly, and the Foreign Office were "doing all we can to help all unfairly detained British nationals in Iran get home to their families", including retired civil engineer Anoosheh Ashoori and conservationist Morad Tahbaz as well as Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe after she was released from house arrest in Tehran in March 2021

It is the second time Mr Ratcliffe has gone on hunger strike, having camped in front of the Iranian embassy for 15 days two years ago - a move he said had resulted in getting his daughter home.

Amnesty International UK said it was a "striking reflection on the UK government" that Mr Ratcliffe had felt it necessary to resort to such "an extreme form of protest" again.

During his latest demonstration he has been visited by supporters including Strictly Come Dancing co-host Claudia Winkleman, writer and presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell, as well as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey.

Mr Ratcliffe said he had been visited by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace as well as another government minister but he acknowledged he had seen more people from the Labour benches during his demonstration.