An Iranian-British released by Tehran in mid-March after years in prison said to himself “a little angrythat the British government did not act more quickly, accusing Prime Minister Boris Johnson ofopportunism“.
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Anoosheh Ashoori, a 68-year-old retired engineer, was arrested in August 2017 while visiting his mother and sentenced to 10 years in prison for spying for Israel, charges he has always denied . He returned to the UK on March 17, along with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, another bi-national held for six years, after London settled a £394 million watch debt owed to the Iran.
“A bit of opportunism”
In an interview broadcast on Thursday evening March 24 by Sky News, Anoosheh Ashoori accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was previously Foreign Secretary, of ignoring calls from his wife to meet with her to discuss her case. . “She made several attempts and none succeeded.“, he lamented. However, after his return, he said he received a letter from the Conservative leader, and “he now really wants to see us“, he continued. “I think there is a bit of opportunism (…) Why couldn’t this letter have been sent five months, one year, two years ago? Why now?“, he added, thinking “not sure» that he would accept the meeting.
A voice message that the detainee had managed to transmit to Boris Johnson in 2019 at the risk of compromising his “securityalso hadn’t received a response: “Unfortunately it didn’t even take five minutes to call my family“. Anoosheh Ashoori agreed with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who said at a press conference on Monday that paying the debt much sooner by the British would have saved him from jail. “It was not a ransom but a debt that the British government owed. She should have been paid and if she had, maybe none of this would have happened. So yes, I’m a little angry“, he said.
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In an interview with the daily The Guardian, the Londoner explained that the British Foreign Office had advised his family for two years not to comment publicly on his detention. “If we hadn’t listened, maybe we would have had better results sooner.“.