Nazanin case makes Britain look weak, says Jeremy Hunt

Consular access is not a right for British citizens according to the country's foreign office

Former British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. AFP

Former UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned that Britain “is beginning to look weak” over its failure to protect its citizens imprisoned by Iran.

Nearly two years after Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case became a diplomatic dispute between the UK and Iran, Britain has failed to show any consequences for her imprisonment, Mr Hunt said. She is one of a number of dual nationals held in Iran, including Anoosheh Ashoori, who earlier this year recorded a week-long audio diary detailing Evin jail’s response to the pandemic.

Foreign Office officials outraged campaigners this week issuing a letter that reminded relatives that there was no automatic right to assistance from the country for people jailed abroad.

“We must show the world that if you imprison a British citizen on trumped-up charges you will pay a very heavy price, because Britain is a major player on the world stage and intends to remain one,” Mr Hunt wrote.

“Allowing ourselves to be pushed around like this at the moment of post-Brexit renewal sends the opposite signal.”

Mr Hunt also referred to a historical, £400 million ($538.8m) debt that the UK government owes Iran, suggesting that sanctions on Tehran are no barrier to its repayment.

He said the money could be repaid in medicine or humanitarian supplies.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: "The UK Government works tirelessly to support British citizens around the world.

“We are doing all we can to help secure the permanent and immediate release of Nazanin and all British dual nationals arbitrarily detained in Iran, so that they can return home safely to their families.”

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 42, a British-Iranian mother of one from Hampstead in north London, was arrested in Iran in 2016 while on a trip to visit family.

She was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of trying to topple the regime, which she denies.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard and their daughter Gabriella before she was detained in Iran in 2016. EPA

Last year she became the first British citizen in more than a century to be given diplomatic protection, which recognises her as “predominantly British” and raises her case under international law.