NAZANIN Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a victim of former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's carelessness, Labour has claimed.
During an Urgent Question in the Commons on the case, Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, referenced a tweet by BBC reporter John Simpson.
"As John tweeted this morning, Nazanin is both, I quote, 'the victim of a campaign by political extremists in Iran and the carelessness of Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary'."
She asked if the minister would agree with that verdict, "and condemn the former Foreign Secretary and our next Prime Minister for handing Iran's hard-liners their biggest excuse, their biggest piece of propaganda, to justify this horrific injustice to one of our own citizens?"
Responding for the Government, Andrew Murrison, the Foreign Office Minister, did not address the criticism of the Tory leadership frontrunner.
Instead, he told MPs: "The eyes of the world are on Iran in this case and if it continues to trample on the good opinion that its international observers might have of Iran it will do Iran and its people no good at all."
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has now been admitted to a hospital pyschiatric ward. Her husband Richard has said he fears the Iranian Revolutionary Guard could be isolating his wife in a Tehran hospital to press her to sign denouncements.
Last month, the British-Iranian went on hunger strike for 15 days last month in protest at her detention. She has been imprisoned for three years following her conviction for spying, a charge she denies.
During Commons exchanges, the SNP's Patrick Grady asked Mr Murrison firmly to ensure that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case would remain a top priority whoever is the next PM.
The Glasgow North MP asked: "Can he state unequivocally that the UK Government's commitment to freeing Nazanin goes beyond any particular set of personnel or ministers, and freeing Nazanin must be a top priority for the next prime minister whoever that might turn out to be?"
Mr Murrison replied: "He asked me to establish the top priorities of the incoming prime minister. He can be absolutely sure that one way or the other Nazanin will be at the forefront of the minds of whoever is successful in this particular contest week."
Labour's Paula Sheriff said the next PM must make Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe an "absolute priority".
"I say gently and genuinely that should that prime minister be the member for Uxbridge [Mr Johnson], how do we ensure that he is appropriately briefed on Nazanin's current situation? It imperative that we avoid any repeat of earlier blunders," added the Dewsbury MP.
Mr Murrison replied: "I know both of my right honourable friends are exercised by this case and I can assure her they are extremely well read into it now.
"I am absolutely confident that whatever the outcome next week the prime minister will treat this case with the priority that I think it deserves."
Tory MP Philip Dunne said that MPs should not use the case of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe for political point-scoring.
The Ludlow MP added: "This is not the time or place for any attempts across the House, however urgently put, to try to seek party political advantage or division as a result of changes in the leadership.
"This is not the time. We should be focusing all of us on ensuring that Nazanin can be returned to this country."
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