Downing Street has condemned critics of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who accused her of being “ungrateful” after she expressed frustration with the UK government for taking six years to secure her release from an Iranian jail.
Days after touching down in Britain, Zaghari-Ratcliffe faced abuse on social media for saying it should not have taken so long for ministers to ensure she returned home safely.
In a press conference in parliament on Monday, she said her husband, Richard, had suggested she thank the foreign secretary, Liz Truss.
“I do not really agree with him on that level because I have seen five foreign secretaries changed over the course of six years,” Zaghari-Ratcliffe said.
“How many foreign secretaries does it take for someone to come home? Five? It should have been one of them eventually.”
A torrent of social media abuse was levelled at her in the aftermath. The prominent Brexit campaigner Arron Banks called the comments “charming” and said she was “stupidly in an hostile country that we sanction heavily”. He later posted a picture of Zaghari-Ratcliffe with a group of people including her local MP, Labour’s Tulip Siddiq, and the party leader, Keir Starmer, adding it was “hard to imagine she wasn’t politically active in Iran”.
Another poster said: “See #ungrateful trending, after [£]400m spent to release her she takes aim at the government in a very polished vile manner. BTW – wish i looked that good when i am ‘broken’. #sendherback.”
Others used the same hashtags and called her a “disgrace”, hitting out at what they called a “rude & ungrateful showing at her press conference”.
Susan Hall, the leader of the Greater London authority Conservatives, also tweeted: “Errr what you really mean is that Iranians should not have unlawfully kept you as prisoner for 6 years. Now it appears that it’s Britains fault … in your eyes. I hope I am wrong but that’s what it feels like you are implying.”
And David Bannerman, a former Conservative MEP, said: “I do hope she’s not biting the hand that saved her. Does she bear no responsibility for being in a country with such a nasty regime?”
However, No 10 said Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been through an “unimaginable ordeal” during her time in Iran and defended her right to criticise the UK government.
Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said: “Clearly, someone who has been through the sort of ordeal that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has, should not have to face any sort of abuse, social media or otherwise.
“She has been through an unimaginable ordeal, and we are extremely pleased that she is now reunited with her family. And as a UK citizen, someone in a free and democratic country, she is rightly able to voice her opinion on any topic she wishes.”
Jeremy Hunt, one of the foreign secretaries who tried to secure Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release, also said on Tuesday that people criticising her had “got it so wrong”.
“She doesn’t owe us gratitude: we owe her an explanation,” he tweeted. “She’s absolutely right that it took too long to bring her home. I tried my best – as did other foreign secretaries – but if trying our best took six years then we must be honest and say the problem should have been solved earlier.
“This kind of open scrutiny as to whether we could do things better is what happens in democratic, open societies.”
David Lammy, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, also said: “Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe does not owe the government gratitude. The government owes Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe an explanation for what took it so long.”
