Displaying items by tag: Boris Johnson

Evin is a brutal and infamous prison. Dorothy Parvaz, who was held there in 2011, said detainees face daily cross-examinations, with constantly changing conditions in attempts to trick prisoners to admit to alleged crimes in a psychological battle. In May 2016 we reported on a campaign to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a Christian British charity worker held in Evin prison. A petition was given to David Cameron to act on her behalf for early release. But she was given a five-year sentence for ‘attempting to topple the government’. Now, foreign secretary Boris Johnson has told the House of Commons that she was ‘teaching Iranians journalism’. It was an incorrect statement which could cause Iran to double her five-year sentence. Nazanin suffers depression from being separated from her husband and three-year-old daughter. Boris’s latest blunder has provoked an online petition accusing him of being unfit for the job, lacking attention to detail, a threat to British people, and damaging overseas relations. It calls for his resignation.

In a newspaper article, Boris Johnson made a stand against the pessimism and accusations surrounding Brexit, saying that there are people ‘woefully underestimating Britain and thinking that Brexit isn’t going to happen’. He added, ‘There are some media observers - in this country and abroad - who think we are going to bottle it. I detect scepticism about whether we have the stamina, guts or persistence to do it. They think the Brexit bill will get lost in a House of Commons crevasse or buried in legal proceedings. They think that we will simply despair of finding the way out of the EU and sit down on the floor and cry, like some toddler lost in the maze at Hampton Court. Well, insofar as they doubt our resolve, I believe they are wrong; and I tell you that this country will succeed in our new national enterprise, and will succeed mightily.’ He went on to speak patriotically about Brexit, but his article has divided public opinion.

Troops and police officers have been sent to the British Virgin Islands, where 100 ‘very serious’ prisoners escaped from jail after hurricane Irma. Boris Johnson said the military presence there is ratcheting up now, with a thousand troops, increasing very soon to 1,250. RAF medics from RAF Brize Norton, along with British Army Engineers and Royal Marines, were deployed to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Anguilla. The Government has faced claims that the UK has done less to evacuate its citizens than other nations, and did not have the correct equipment in place to deal with hurricanes. The former attorney general of Anguilla described UK’s £32 million aid as a ‘drop in the Caribbean Sea’. Pray that during Boris Johnson’s visit to the islands, his discussions with governors and inspection of damage will help the government to evaluate the situation correctly, give survivors the appropriate resources, and start planning future responses to similar events.

The Brexit teams meet this week after a delayed negotiation start. Pray for both Davis and Barnier as they compare their respective positions; may they make good progress, identifying differences and recognising similarities that can be reinforced. The Centre for European Policy Studies believes the delay is indicative of UK politicians’ division and infighting. Pray for a healing of rifts  during the summer break between chancellor Philip Hammond and his colleagues, and  for harmony when parliament resumes in September. Also many believe that, whether through arrogance or incompetence, the reputation of the Foreign Office has been undermined under Boris Johnson. His comment that ‘the EU could go whistle for its money in the Brexit negotiations’ opened a potential no-deal scenario which could dismantle the economy. Pray that Mr Johnson, a man of high intelligence, may reveal the more serious and credible side of his personality.