Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband demands intervention from Boris Johnson

Richard Ratcliffe, whose wife has been detained in Iran since 2016, said he had written a letter to the new UK Prime Minister to ask for a meeting

Richard Ratcliffe previously held a hunger strike outside Iran's London embassy over his wife's treatment. EPA

The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian charity worker detained in Tehran on espionage charges, said he expects her case to be “near the top of the pile” of new UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s list of priorities.

Richard Ratcliffe said he had written to Mr Johnson seeking a meeting and would also do so with new Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. Mr Ratcliffe admitted he had been “cross” at Mr Johnson’s failure to take responsibility, when the-then foreign minister incorrectly stated Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was teaching journalism in Iran.

She was detained by Iranian authorities in 2016 on charges she wanted to topple the regime, which she strenuously denies.

As tensions in the Arabian Gulf with Iran rise, Mr Raab separately confirmed on Monday he had yet to speak with any Iranian ministers since his appointment as the UK’s senior diplomat last Wednesday but insisted the Foreign Office remained in constant contact with Iran.

“Obviously his mistake was part of what caused Nazanin to be where she is now. Not the reason why she got arrested but it didn’t help,” Mr Ratcliffe told Sky News, as he spoke about Mr Johnson.

Conceding how busy the new prime minister was, he said a letter had been sent to the prime minister “listen, I’d like to meet and I’ll be blunt – the longer it takes us to meet that’s a pretty clear signal as to how important, or otherwise, we are as an issue.”

Mr Ratcliffe said the letter, signed by a number of people affected by arrests abroad, had not been acknowledged yet.

He said he didn’t expect Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe to be a “day one” issue for Mr Johnson but hoped to meet within weeks.

Mr Ratcliffe did, however, say he was encouraged by Mr Raab’s previously foreign office experience as a lawyer and the “positive” comments some had made in Tehran about Mr Johnson.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe recently left a mental health ward in Iran, where she was not allowed contact with her husband.

Mr Ratcliffe said he was “really pleased” she had been released and said his wife seemed “calmer.”