Richard Ratcliffe admits his hunger strike is taking its toll
‘I look and feel rougher’: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband admits his hunger strike outside Foreign Office is taking its toll after TWO WEEKS… and he will ‘probably’ end his protest when Iranian delegation leaves COP26
- Richard Ratcliffe said he was not feeling as well and the cold was getting to him
- The husband and father continued to protest outside Foreign Office in London
- He has been demonstrating for 16 days and hit out at the handling of wife’s case
- Mr Ratcliffe earlier blasted the PM for allowing Iran to ‘arbitrarily’ detain Britons
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband has admitted he is ‘looking rougher’ after being on hunger strike for two weeks.
Richard Ratcliffe said the cold was getting to him as he continued to protest outside the Foreign Office in central London.
He has been demonstrating on Whitehall for 16 days over the government’s handling of his wife’s incarceration in Iran.
Mr Ratcliffe earlier blasted Boris Johnson for his ‘cold decision’ to allow the Middle East country to keep ‘arbitrarily’ detaining British nationals.
Richard Ratcliffe (pictured) said he was not feeling as well and the cold was getting to him as he continued to protest outside the Foreign Office in central London
He has been demonstrating on Whitehall for 16 days over the government’s handling of his wife’s (pictured) incarceration in Iran
Mr Ratcliffe sits outside the Foreign Office with his daughter Gabriella in London on Friday night
Mr Ratcliffe told Good Morning Britain on Monday: ‘I’m definitely looking rougher and feeling rougher.
‘I don’t feel hungry but I do feel the cold more. It’s a short-term tactic. You can’t take it too long or you end up in a coma.’
He added he will have to listen to his body when deciding when to end his hunger strike.
‘At this point I will have to start listening to my body,’ he said. ‘Over the weekend I spent most of the day sitting down. The batteries were really flat.
‘One of the things with a hunger strike is you get more stubborn the longer things go on, so you become less able to flexibly let go.’
Mr Ratcliffe also demanded that the UK repay a £400million debt to Iran.
He told Sky News his wife is being kept ‘hostage’ due to the money, arising from the UK failing to deliver Chieftain tanks ordered by the Shah of Iran before 1979.
Mr Ratcliffe told Good Morning Britain on Monday: ‘I’m definitely looking rougher and feeling rougher.’ He is pictured on Saturday
Mr Ratcliffe also demanded that the UK repay a £400million debt to Iran. Pictured: Stones he painted with messages on them where he is camped
In 2008 an international arbitration process ruled that the UK owes Iran the debt. Pictured: The ground where Mr Ratcliffe camps
In 2008 an international arbitration process ruled that the UK owes Iran the debt.
But since then the UK has failed to repay it, with talks between the countries breaking down over the summer.
Mr Ratcliffe told Sky News that his list of demands includes that the UK pay Iran the money.
‘I think that the UK should repay the debt – that’s why Nazanin was taken,’ he said. ‘We have lost five-and-a-half years to unpaid debt, others have been taken since.’
But he added the UK must also take a tougher stance towards Iran holding British citizens prisoner.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe lost her appeal against a second jail sentence earlier this month and her husband admitted he is ‘shocked’ and ‘angry’ by the move
Mr Ratcliffe is pictured with his daughter Gabriella outside the Foreign Office in central London earlier in his hunger strike
‘But also they do need to be tougher with Iran on hostage taking,’ he said.
‘For example, this week the Iranian vice president is being hosted up in Glasgow and being wined and dined.
‘Really it should be challenged, that it is not OK that when UK citizens have been taken hostage that the Iranian state carries on as normal.’
‘I don’t think that the Government’s approach to hostage-taking is effective, five-and-a-half years shows that,’ he added.
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