Meet Richard Ratcliffe, husband of Nazanin Zaghari who was detained in Iran since 2016. Her recent release and meeting her husband and her daughter have turned heads. While Nazanin fought for her freedom in Iran, her husband rigorously protested pleading for her release for 6 years.
So, learn about Nazanin’s husband Richard. Here we will discuss his job, age, background, and daughter.
Meet Richard Ratcliffe, Nazanin Zaghari Husband
Nazanin Zaghari, an Iranian-British citizen moved to the UK in Hampstead, north-west London to Study for a master’s in communication management at London Metropolitan University after receiving a scholarship. Soon, she met her husband Richard Ratcliffe through mutual friends.
Richard and Nazanin shared their wedding vows in August 2009 in Winchester.
Nazanin’s parents live in Iran so she traveled there with an Iranian passport as required by the law and used her British passport to travel to all other countries. However, on 3 April 2016, her British passport was confiscated by members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard arrested her at the Imam Khomeini Airport and detained her.
Nazanin was accused of plotting against the Iranian government, which she has denied, and was sentenced to five years in jail, where she spent four years in Tehran’s Evin Prison and one under house arrest.
In July 2016, Richard delivered letters to Downing Street for outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron and his replacement Theresa May on his wife’s 100th day in custody. He says it is “astonishing” no British minister has publicly criticized Tehran for arresting Mrs. Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
In September 2016, Richard claimed that his wife has been jailed for five years following a conviction on unspecified “national security-related” offenses- a sentence he describes as “a punishment without a crime”. A year later in November 2017, Richard raised his voice about his wife finding a lump on her breasts and is “on the verge of a nervous breakdown”.
Throughout the period he advocated for his wife in the UK. He also went on hunger strikes to protest the failure of the UK government to secure the return home of his wife.
Moreover, he also started a petition of 4.5 million signatures to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The petition gathered signatures from 3.76 million people across 155 countries. On 15 March 2022, Nazanin was handed her British passport at the last minute and is now back with her husband and daughter.
Three years ago, Richard himself laid a card and 155 bunches of flowers – one for each week his wife had been in prison – outside the Iranian embassy in London.
Richard who is thrilled of his wife’s return said, “We can’t take back the time that’s gone. But we live in the future, not the past. We’ll take it one day at a time. I think it is going to be the beginning of a new life, a normal life, and hopefully a happy family, with all the bumps and all the normal squabbles we had before.”
He also said that he believed his wife “is caught in a dispute between two states” over an old debt of 400 million pounds ($540 million) that London refuses to settle since the shah of Iran was ousted in 1979.
Do Richard Ratcliffe And Nazanin Zaghari Have A Daughter?
Richard and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe are parents to one daughter Gabriella who was born in June 2014. At the time of Nazanin’s arrest, Gabriella was with her. They handed 22-month-old Gabriella to her maternal grandparents. Gabriella, aged five, returned to Richard in the UK on 10 October 2019.
After her mother’s return to the UK, Gabriella seems to have a firm grasp on how to reinsert her mother into her life. Richard said she had chosen which toys to show to her mother when her plane touched down. Gabriella also planned to play the piano for her and show off her craft supplies.
Gabriella was heard asking “is that mummy?” before her mother walked down the plane’s stairs at the airport in Oxfordshire. MP Tulip Siddiq said “My heart just broke” when Gabriella started playing the piano and singing.
Richard Ratcliffe Age
As of March 2022, Richard Ratcliffe is 47 years old.
Richard Ratcliffe Job And Career
Before Richard Ratcliffe’s life turned upside down, he was working as an accountant. His LinkedIn states that he worked as an Audit Principal at UK National Audit Office.
According to Glassdoor, Audit Principal at UK National Audit Office makes £57,003 a year in London.
What Is Richard Ratcliffe Ethnic Background?
While Richard Ratcliffe is White-British, his wife is of Iranian-British ethnic background.
Speaking of his background, Richard wrote in an article on The Washington Post 2019, “With human rights campaigns, there can be a risk of campaigner hagiography. I am aware that much of the support for my family stems from our position of privilege. I am middle class and white and have an accent like a BBC presenter. If I worked in a kebab shop, this might be different, a story seen or heard just once before the carousel moves on.”
Is Richard Ratcliffe On Twitter?
As reported, no, Richard Ratcliffe doesn’t have a personal account on Twitter. However, he has created a page for his wife’s support on Facebook (@free.nazaninratcliffe) and Twitter (@FreeNazanin).
Related FAQs
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Who Is Richard Ratcliffe Father?
Richard Ratcliffe’s father is John Ratcliffe. John recently described that his son’s home was “appalling”. Richard’s mother Barbara Ratcliffe shared, “It is, but if you can think about it, it was a three-bedroom flat when Nazanin got taken and they’d only got a baby in it. Well, that baby’s grown up.”
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Has Richard Ratcliffe Shared His Contact Details?
He is only on social media and hasn’t shared his contact details online.
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How Much Is Richard Ratcliffe Net Worth?
