Richard Ratcliffe has said he is “more guarded than hopeful” when it comes to action being taken to bring his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe home.

Richard Ratcliffe is on day 19 of his hunger strike in an attempt to prompt the Government to take action on bringing his wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, home from Iran.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe is currently serving a year-long prison sentence, which started in March.

She was charged just a week after completing a five-year sentence that came after she was found guilty of “plotting to topple the Iranian government.”

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has always denied all allegations against her.

Richard Ratcliffe spoke to City News about his hunger strike and what he is hoping to achieve.

‘More guarded than hopeful’

The latest appeal against Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s most recent sentence was rejected.

Mr Ratcliffe says it is just one of the events which has left him hesitant to expect a positive result from his demonstration.

“I’m probably more guarded than hopeful because obviously we’ve had lots of false stories.

“I think it’s a good sign that the meeting is happening, it’s a good sign that there’s movement.

“We’re going to have a meeting later on with James Cleverly, and he’ll explain what happened in the meeting with the Iranian delegation.

“That’ll give me a sense of whether I should be hopeful or whether I should think okay this has got a while to run still.”

However, his comments to City News came before his meeting with Mr Cleverly, which he described afterwards as “depressing”.

Celebrity and public support

The huge amount of media attention the campaign is attracting is fuelling Mr Ratcliffe to continue his strike.

It has lasted four days longer than his previous demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy in summer 2019.

Scarlett Dargan speaks to Richard Ratcliffe at the FCOD
Richard Ratcliffe told Scarlett Dargan he is “more guarded than hopeful” and that he and his family are “caught in the middle” of what he described as a “government dispute”.

And it hasn’t just been the media and celebrities who have lifted Mr Ratcliffe’s spirits.

“I’ve met so many different people. Really from all different walks of life.

“I met one lady who came down the night before her wedding and she just said ‘I want to be here’, which was lovely.”

After 19 days, Mr Ratcliffe believes the demonstration may not continue for much longer.

“It’s the tiredness. The batteries are flat. And probably each day slightly more.

“I think we must be getting near the end. It feels like I’m quite a middle-aged man at this point.”

‘Do the right thing’

While Mr Ratcliffe may opt to end his hunger strike soon, he is keen for people to continue to engage with the cause.

“We’re posting and asking people to push their MPs to follow up on Nazanin’s case and while we’re here, come down and visit, to put pressure on the government.”

While Mr Ratcliffe is hoping that his efforts will make people to engage with his wife’s cause, he also hopes it will highlight the purpose of government.

“Generally I think the power of all the people shows that they care, but it also reminds elected officials they work for us.

“In the end you want your MPs to pressure the government to do the right thing.

“Our case is going to be solved by the government. It’s a government dispute and we’re caught in the middle of it.

“We’ll see when this is over we’ll have a re-think and recover about what we can do next.”

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