What is the true role of Richard Ratcliffe?

In the past two years Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, has repeatedly undertaken headline grabbing stunts to draw attention to what he calls his wife’s plight.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual national, was arrested in April 2016 as she was about to leave Iran. She was subsequently convicted on national security charges and sentenced to five years imprisonment. Zaghari-Ratcliffe has since transformed into a celebrity and captured the imagination of Britons like no one before. The British media has been at the forefront of cultivating her celebrity status by continually misrepresenting her as an “innocent mother” held “hostage” by Iran.  

Nazanin’s husband’s decision to launch a hunger strike ostensibly in solidarity with her comes as no surprise to many observers.  Instead of going through the proper channels, he has chosen to sensationalise his wife’s situation. Not only has his approach not helped Nazanin but it has arguably made her situation worse by provoking the Iranians.

If Ratcliffe’s sole aim was to help his wife then he has simply failed in that effort as none of his stunts have brought Nazanin closer to freedom. In fact, his efforts have proven to be counterproductive and this gives rise to the disturbing question as to why he persists on the same course of action despite knowing that it exacerbates his wife’s situation.

It is indeed high time to ask some searching questions about his role, motivation and desired outcome.

Foremost why has the husband of a “tormented mother” (to borrow a phrase from the British media) sought from the very outset to sensationalise this issue through the media? It is a well-known fact that her husband personally benefits from his media engagements but are there deeper issues at play here?   

More broadly, Ratcliffe has persistently claimed he is desperate to be reunited with his daughter Gabriella, who is living safely with her grandparents in Tehran. But this contradicts an email he sent to the Iranian ambassador in London, dated 08 May 2017, in which he refuses the ambassador’s offer of a fast-track visa.

Furthermore, what is the extent of Ratcliffe’s relationship with British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt?  According to a well-informed source he met Hunt just before announcing his hunger strike. This brings the British government’s influence into his decision to organise a media circus outside the Iranian embassy in London into sharp relief.  

It is worth noting that this act is in direct contravention of Article 22 of the Vienna Convention which establishes the inviolability of diplomatic premises.

True to form Ratcliffe seems more determined than ever to undermine efforts to help his wife.

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