NAZANIN Zaghari-Ratcliffe is “counting down the days” until her release from prison in Iran, her husband has said.

The British-Iranian dual national - whose sister-in-law Rebecca Ratcliffe is a GP in Cwmbran - has been detained since 2016, when she was sentenced to five years in prison over allegations, which she denies, of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government.

Her husband Richard Ratcliffe told Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour she “actually at the moment is OK”.

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He added: “Probably, as you say, she’s got nine weeks to go until the end of her sentence officially at the moment, although there’s a second court case hanging over her.

“But for her, she’s focusing on the hope and so counting down the days.

And former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the prime minister needs to show “personal interest” in the case of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

“Once a country’s leader shows interest, then things always start to move faster, so I know Boris (Johnson) does care a lot about Nazanin’s case but I think he can make a difference as prime minister in terms of what he does now,” he said.

Mr Johnson was previously accused as putting Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case in jeopardy after, while serving as foreign secretary, he said in Parliament that she had been in Iran training journalists. In fact she was visiting her family.