A BRITISH woman being held in jail in Iran may face a further period of imprisonment because of remarks made by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
Mr Johnson told a parliamentary committee last week that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was working in Tehran training journalists at the time of her arrest in 2016.
Four days later, she was summoned before an unscheduled court hearing, where the Foreign Secretary's comments were cited as proof that she was engaged in "propaganda against the regime".
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe's employer, Thomson Reuters Foundation, released a statement making clear that she was not working in Iran, but was on holiday in the country to show her daughter Gabriella to her grandparents.
The Foundation's chief executive officer Monique Villa urged Mr Johnson to correct his "serious mistake", warning that the development "can only worsen her sentence".
Both the Foundation and Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe's family see a "direct correlation" between the Foreign Secretary's comments and the action by hardline judge Abolghassem Salavati, said Ms Villa.
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to five years in jail in September after apparently being accused of involvement in a planned coup against the Iranian regime.
The Times reported that new charges of propaganda against the regime could now add a further five years to her incarceration.
Condemning her imprisonment, Mr Johnson told the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on November 1: "When I look at what Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing, she was simply teaching people journalism as I understand it.
"(Neither) Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe nor her family has been informed about what crime she has actually committed. And that I find extraordinary, incredible."
The Iranian judiciary's High Council for Human Rights said: "His statement shows that Nazanin had visited the country for anything but a holiday.
"For months it was claimed that Nazanin is a British-Iranian charity worker who went to see her family when she was arrested ... Mr Johnson's statement has shed new light on the realities about Nazanin."
In a statement, Ms Villa said: "I once again urge Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to immediately correct the serious mistake he made at the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament.
"On November 1 he said that Nazanin 'was training journalists' in Iran. I have immediately clarified that this is not right as she is not a journalist and has never trained journalists at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, where she is project manager in my media development team.
"She was in Iran on holiday to show her daughter Gabriella to her grandparents when she was arrested at Tehran Airport on 3 April 2016.
"Like Richard Ratcliffe, her husband, I see a direct correlation between this statement by Boris Johnson, who rightly condemned the treatment that Nazanin has received in Iran, and the fact that Nazanin was brought once again into court on Saturday November 4 and accused of 'spreading propaganda against the regime'.
"This accusation from Judge Salavati can only worsen her sentence.
"She is obviously a bargaining chip between the UK government and Iran and this injustice must stop as soon as possible. Whatever is at stake should be paid attention to by the UK Government."
There was no immediate response from the Foreign Office to a request for comment.
ends
Allan Hogarth, Amnesty International UK's head of policy and government affairs, said: "Everything that's happened to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe since she was detained last year suggests the Iranian authorities have been intent on building a bogus criminal case against her.
"Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a charity worker and mother of a young daughter who's already been subjected to solitary confinement, a grossly unfair trial and now reportedly faces the threat of a new criminal charge.
"The Foreign Secretary's call last week for Zaghari-Ratcliffe to be released was welcome, but he must clarify his remarks about her work and the purpose of her visit to Iran last year."
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