Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband tells Boris Johnson: Please get her home by Christmas

The husband of a British mother jailed in Iran has urged Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to secure his wife's release so she can return home by Christmas.

Richard Ratcliffe said it was clear that Mr Johnson was taking the case of his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe "extremely seriously" following a meeting on Wednesday.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested last year on a visit to her parents and was handed a five-year sentence on allegations of spying and attempting to topple the Iranian regime.

Mr Johnson met with her husband amid continuing concern that his suggestion to a parliamentary committee that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was training journalists in Iran has exposed her to the threat of the doubling of her five-year sentence.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard Ratcliffe, who has begged the Government to intervene and help free his charity worker wife
PA

Mr Ratcliffe described the hour-long meeting as "positive and constructive", adding that while Mr Johnson has no fixed date for his planned visit to Iran, the Foreign Secretary was "keen" for him to travel with him.

He said that he had pressed Mr Johnson to give diplomatic protection to his wife.

The family's local MP Tulip Siddiq, who accompanied Mr Ratcliffe to the meeting, said Mr Johnson had not ruled out such a move.

Mr Johnson earlier vowed to “leave no stone unturned” in the fight to bring home the jailed Hampstead mother.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabriella

He said: "I can you tell that people here in the Foreign Office and across government have been working very hard over the last 19 months to secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and indeed to solve some other very difficult consular cases in Iran, and we will continue to do that.

"We will leave absolutely no stone unturned in our efforts to do that."

Mr Johnson has faced calls to resign after Iranian state TV reportedly claimed he had publicly “confessed” that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been training journalists.

Ms Siddiq said he should step down if she spends "even one more day" in an Iranian jail as a result of his blunder.

Mr Ratcliffe has not seen his wife or daughter for 19 months

She joined a chorus of politicians in hitting out at Mr Johnson, including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, London mayor Sadiq Khan, shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, Tory minister Anna Soubry and Labour MP Yvette Cooper.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was jailed for five years in September on allegations of spying and attempting to topple the Iranian regime.

The 38-year-old had been visiting her parents to introduce them to her daughter, Gabriella.

Gabriella, now three, had her British passport confiscated during her mother's arrest and has since been in the care of her grandparents in Iran.

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