Richard Ratcliffe joined by celebrity supporters on day 16 of hunger strike

Richard Ratcliffe has been joined by celebrity supporters on day 16 of his hunger strike.

Mr Ratcliffe is currently on a hunger strike outside the Foreign Office, in response to the government’s failure to secure the release of his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from detention in Iran.

He was today pictured with Strictly Come Dancing co-host Claudia Winkleman and broadcaster  Victoria Coren Mitchell who visited him to display their support.

On 23 September Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe marked the 2000th day of her arbitrary detention in the country.

On 28 October Mr Ratcliffe met with the Foreign Secretary and his MP Tulip Siddiq to discuss the case.

He told the BBC in the wake of the meeting that he was “disappointed” at the government’s failure to free his wife.

“My criticism of the British government is they’ve not prioritised the safety of British citizens in the course of their nuclear negotiations, in the course of their discussions with Iran and other stuff’s been more important,” he explained, adding: “And actually nothing is more important for the government than protecting its own citizens.”

In 2017, Boris Johnson erroneously informed MPs that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been “teaching people journalism” before her detainment by Iranian authorities.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family and her employer have both maintained Mr Johnson’s comments were untrue.

However his statement was referred to as proof by Iranian authorities that she was responsible for “propaganda against the regime”.