LONDON: The husband of jailed British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has said she felt hopeless during an urgent parliamentary debate on her situation.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe watched the House of Commons proceedings from Iran, where she has been sentenced to another year in jail, but said there 鈥渨asn鈥檛 anything that gave grounds for hope,鈥� according to husband Richard Ratcliffe.

He said she questioned why Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab skipped the parliamentary proceedings and sent Middle East and North Africa Minister James Cleverly instead.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe received her new jail sentence and a year-long ban on travel on Monday, on new charges of 鈥渟preading propaganda against the regime.鈥�

She was detained on national security charges in 2016 and has served five years in prison since.

Ratcliffe told the Press Association: 鈥淪he watched the urgent question on the (website) link. What she noticed was that Dominic Raab hadn鈥檛 come to answer for the government, a junior minister had been sent. It was like, 鈥楲isten, we鈥檝e had seven of these 鈥� am I not worth the foreign secretary coming along to answer and explain the government鈥檚 policy鈥�?鈥�

Cleverly told MPs on Tuesday that Britain would not accept dual nationals being used as 鈥渄iplomatic leverage.鈥�

Tulip Siddiq, the MP for Zaghari-Ratcliffe鈥檚 constituency, told the debate: 鈥淎t the heart of this tragic case is the prime minister鈥檚 dismal failure to release my constituent and to stand up for her.鈥�

Cleverly responded that Siddiq鈥檚 鈥渁nger and frustration鈥� are 鈥渕isdirected because Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and the other British dual nationals held in arbitrary detention are being held by Iran. It is on them (Tehran).鈥�