British FM Boris Johnson meets husband of aid worker jailed in Iran

British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson is due to meet the husband of the aid worker jailed in Iran to discuss efforts to help secure her release.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was sentenced earlier this month to five years in prison under charges of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government.

Her family and employer maintain that she was on holiday when arrested, and Zaghari-Ratcliffe has denied all charges.

Johnson found himself in hot water when he incorrectly said that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been "teaching people journalism" in Tehran – a statement that was used by Iranian authorities as evidence against her.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained by Tehran in April 2016, had already been sentenced to five years in prison.

However Johnson's statement, made at a foreign affairs select committee hearing, was jumped on by the Iranian judiciary and media as "implicit admission of guilt".

A statement released by Britain's Foreign Office on Wednesday stated that Johnson would meet Richard Ratcliffe to discuss efforts "to secure her release on humanitarian grounds".

Some critics have called for Johnson to resign, but Mr Ratcliffe said it would not be in his wife's interests.