LONDON: Britain said on Monday that comments made by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson about jailed Iranian-British aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe should not be used to bring additional charges against her.
Johnson told the British parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Nov. 1 that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been teaching people journalism, a statement that the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a charity organization for which she works, said was incorrect.
“Last week’s remarks by the Foreign Secretary provide no justifiable basis on which to bring any additional charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe,” a spokesman for the British Foreign Office said.
“While criticizing the Iranian case against Mrs.Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the Foreign Secretary sought to explain that even the most extreme set of unproven Iranian allegations against her were insufficient reason for her detention and treatment.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager, is serving a five-year jail sentence after being convicted of plotting to overthrow Iran’s clerical establishment.
She was brought again into court on Nov. 4, three days after Johnson’s remarks, and accused by a judge of “spreading propaganda against the regime.”
“She is not a journalist and has never trained journalists at the Thomson Reuters Foundation where she is project manager in my Media Development team,” Monique Villa, Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO, said in a statement.
The charges against Nazanin were denied by her family and the Foundation, a charity organization that is independent of Thomson Reuters and operates independently of Reuters News.
Britain says Johnson’s comments do not justify further charges against aid worker jailed in Iran
Britain says Johnson’s comments do not justify further charges against aid worker jailed in Iran
