Gove under fire for new blunder over mother in Iran prison

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show yesterday, Gove appeared to say there was some doubt on why Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran.

Meanwhile, serious concerns emerged last night about Zaghari- Ratcliffe’s health. Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, said she had seen a medical specialist after finding lumps in her breasts and was “on the verge of a nervous breakdown”.

Ratcliffe said he spoke to Johnson for about 20 minutes yesterday morning, with Johnson saying he was “deeply sorry for Nazanin’s suffering”. Ratcliffe said he did not believe Johnson should resign.

Ratcliffe and his wife’s employers say she went to Iran to visit family, and introduce her young daughter to her parents. But when she tried to leave the country, the Revolutionary Guard detained her at Tehran’s airport, accusing her of attempting to overthrow the government.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe has now been in prison for 18 months, eight of them reportedly in solitary confinement.

And now because of a gaffe by Johnson, compounded by Gove, she could face another five years.

Last week, Johnson told a committee of MPs that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been in Iran training journalists.

This was pounced on by prosecutors, with the country’s state TV broadcaster calling it an “unintended admission” of her guilt.

Asked what on the Marr show what Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing in Iran, Gove replied: “I don’t know.”

That lack of certainty will only strengthen the case against her.

Gove tried to shift the blame, saying it was Iran who was most at fault. “One of the things I want to stress is there is no reason why Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe should be in prison in Iran so far as any of us know,” he said.

The Environment Secretary warned it would be a “big mistake” to focus attention on Johnson.

He said: “There is an effort, somehow, to shift attention and direction away from who is really at fault here and it is the Iranian regime.”

There is “no reason” for Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s detention and she should be released, he said.

“There is nothing the Iranian regime would like more than for the attention to be shifted off them and on to us,” Gove said.

“I think we make a big mistake if we think the right thing to do is to blame politicians in a democracy who are trying to do the right thing for the plight of a woman who has been imprisoned by a regime that is a serial abuser of human rights.

“Who is in the dock here? Iran. Let’s not play their game. We play their game if we point the finger at democrats who are trying to do the right thing when it is extremists who are responsible for the abuse of human rights.”

Asked if Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been training journalists, Gove replied: “Her husband said she was there on holiday and her husband is the person who should know.”

Gove said Johnson was “doing a great job” as Foreign Secretary.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her employer, Thomson Reuters Foundation, insist the training claim is incorrect with Johnson later acknowledging his comments “could have been clearer” and that he had no doubt that she was indeed on holiday.

Shadow Cabinet office minister Jon Trickett said: “Boris Johnson’s cavalier approach to international diplomacy is compounded this morning by Michael Gove claiming he has no idea what Nazanin Zaghari- Ratcliffe was doing in Iran. It has always been clear, she was on holiday visiting her family. It appears Gove is more interested in protecting Johnson’s job than the liberty of a British citizen in jail in Iran.”

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family said she had been experiencing pain in her breasts and was given a mammogram by the prison’s gynaecologist. It gave an inconclusive result and at their insistence, she was taken to hospital for an ultrasound on Saturday.

The family said the doctor thought the lumps were likely to be benign, but noted her family history of breast cancer. She was given anti-inflammatory medication and vitamin pills and was to be seen by the specialist again next week to see whether there was any improvement.”