A father freed from a prison in Iran after a five-year ordeal has said he feels “angry” the UK government took so long to secure his release.
Anoosheh Ashoori, 68, a retired civil engineer, accused Boris Johnson of “opportunism” after the prime minister ignored his request for an intervention two years ago, and is now offering a meeting.
Ashoori, a British-Iranian dual national, was arrested in August 2017 while visiting his elderly mother in Tehran.
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He was detained in the notorious Evin prison for almost five years, having been accused of spying. He consistently and vigorously denied the allegations.
Ashoori was released at the same time as charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and came after months of intensive diplomatic negotiations between London and Tehran.
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The UK finally agreeing to settle a £400 million debt dating back to the 1970s appeared to break the deadlock.
British-US national, Morad Tahbaz, remains imprisoned in Iran.
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Leon Neal via PA Wire/PA Images
The mother-of-one said she was let down by successive foreign secretaries before she was finally freed last week.
Speaking at a press conference in the House of Commons, Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she disagreed with her husband, Richard, who had thanked the government for finally reaching a deal over a £400 million debt owed to Iran by the UK over an order for Chieftain tanks more than 40 years ago.
The British-Iranian said there had been five different foreign secretaries over the course of her six years in jail.
She said: “How many foreign secretaries does it take for someone to come home? Five?
“What’s happened now should have happened six years ago.”
When asked on Beth Rigby Interviews on Sky News whether, after being held for nearly five years under four different foreign secretaries, he felt forgotten, Ashoori replied: “I agree with Nazanin 100%. She in fact put her finger on the right button by saying that. She should have been here years ago, if that debt was paid. That wasn’t a ransom, that was a debt that the British government owed. It should have been paid, and if it was paid perhaps none of this would have happened. So yes, I feel a bit angry.”
He added the prime minister had written to him “eager to see us”, despite Johnson previously snubbing a 2020 voicemail from Ashoori that attempted to get his case heard (his wife, Sherry, did not hear back).
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Ashoori said: ”I think that it’s a bit of opportunism involved in it, at the same time as all of this has happened under his command. So one could argue that it was the British government, the present British government, that succeeded in doing that, which is correct. At the same time you could say that why didn’t you contact us, my family, and now you are eager to do that.
“How would you expect us to absorb that? How would you expect us to think of you with this letter now? Why couldn’t this letter be sent five months ago, a year ago, two years ago? Why now?”
Ashoori said he was “not sure” whether he would see Johnson now.
In an interview with the Guardian, Ashoori questioned whether ministers would have acted earlier if they had spent just a day in Evin.
He told the newspaper: “Is it such a big job to pay this debt? Would those ministers be able to stand even one day of their life in Evin? If they could feel what it is like maybe they would have made the right decision much earlier. You cannot imagine yourself in that hell, that cesspool.”
