Tuesday was the second anniversary of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imprisonment in a Tehran jail for doing, well, nothing whatsoever.

It’s tricky to get our heads around this in Britain where, for all our faults, we tend not to grab a mother with her toddler at the airport, pass the kid to her grandparents then throw the mother in prison mumbling something nonsensical like: “As you were feeding your baby, you looked like you were plotting to overthrow the government.”

Newspaper reports announce her as “dual national” or “north London mum”. The first tells us she belongs to two countries – one of which is hers; the second reminds us she is one of us – a Brit.

Richard Ratcliffe has not seen his wife or their four-year-old daughter for two years (PA)

Her husband, Richard, has not seen his wife and their almost four-year-old daughter, Gabriella, for two years now. The Iranian authorities, ever keen to preserve the monster-under-your-bed story, refuse to issue him a visa.

Nazanin’s case finally became front-page news in November when a gaffe by Boris Johnson, ever keen to preserve his image of being a bumbling hairdryer accident who doesn’t bother himself with revising the facts before he opens his cakehole amid the most delicate of diplomatic situations, made her situation worse.

While – finally – speaking of her case in parliament, he said she was “teaching journalism” in Iran. This was not what Nazanin was doing. She was on holiday, visiting her mum and dad with her baby.

Johnson demonstrated a catastrophic “this doesn’t affect me, so I can’t really give a rat’s arse” attitude. He bolstered Tehran’s claim that she is a spy – justifying, in the eyes of Nazanin’s jailers, the five-year sentence she is currently serving in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison.

The foreign secretary’s inexcusable mistake caused an outcry – Labour’s most powerful figures suddenly became interested in the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Sadiq Khan and Jeremy Corbyn piled in – the foreign secretary has to go, they said.

What took them so long? Why did Johnson have to shove his foot so firmly in his mouth before they paid attention?

“I think he’s got to go. He’s our foreign secretary, whose job is diplomacy and representing the best interests of our country and if Theresa May was a strong prime minister she’d have sacked him a long time ago,” Khan said.

Until that point, sadly, none of them had been moved enough by the case to make any meaningful intervention. It seemed an opportunity to bash the Tories was more enticing than fighting for Nazanin’s freedom.

When the Mayor of London invited thousands of Londoners to Trafalgar Square to watch an Oscar-winning Iranian film in March last year, it was only reluctantly that he agreed for the #FreeNazanin campaign to have a small presence – a few placards but no access to the stage, no chance of speaking to the crowd.

That is the experience of this family – sidelined both by the Islamic Republic, the UK government and, sadly, the Her Majesty’s Opposition too.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures 2018 Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe hugs her daughter Gabriella, in Iran after she was allowed to leave the Iranian prison, she is being held in, for three days. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested during a holiday with her toddler daughter in April 2016. Iranian authorities accuse her of plotting against the government. Her family denies this, saying says she was in Iran to visit family. Free Nazanin Campaign/AP Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabriella. Nazanin is serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly plotting to overthrow Iran's government. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures June 2016 Richard Ratcliffe's daughter Gabriella had her British passport confiscated and was stranded in Iran with her grandparents after her mother Nazanin was jailed. He left left a giant birthday card on the doorstep of the Iranian embassy in central London to mark her second birthday in June 2016. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures Nazanin has spent some of her prison sentence in solitary confinement. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard and daughter Gabriella. Family Handout Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures July 2016 Richard Ratcliffe delivering a letter of petition with his mother Barbara Ratcliffe and MP Tulip Siddiq, to 10, Downing Street on the 100th day of her detention, on July 12, 2016. Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures Supporters of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe held a vigil outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to mark her 707 days in captivity. Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures January 2017 Richard Ratcliffe holds a '#Free Nazanin' sign and candle during a vigil for for wife on January 16, 2017. The vigil, being held outside the Iranian Embassy in London marks one year since the Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and other US-Iranian dual-nationals were released from prison in Iran. Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures Nazanin with her daughter Gabriella before they were detained by Iranian authorities. Change.org Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures September 2017 Gabriella, who is three-years-old in this picture, has now spent two years away from her mother. Richard Ratcliffe Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures November 2017 Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson meets with Richard Ratcliffe over Nazanin's case. They meet just days after Johnson told a parliamentary committee that she was in Iran "training journalists". WPA Pool/Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures November 2017 Actor Emma Thompson braved pneumonia to support Richard Ratcliffe in leading demonstrators before a march in support of Nazanin in November. Reuters Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures November 2017 Richard Ratcliffe after the march said: 'It is profoundly moving to see so many people here.' REUTERS Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures November 2017 A picture of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe shown on Iranian state TV as part of a report that made fresh allegations against her. They said she had been recruiting for banned broadcast services, as well as 'opposition cyber teams'. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures December 2017 Iranian president Hassan Rouhani greets British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson at the presidential office in Tehran, Iran. Johnson visited Tehran to discuss the fate of detained Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. EPA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her daughter Gabriella. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures December 2017 Photos of Richard Ratcliffe and his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on display at their home in north London. Mr Ratcliffe said he believed there was "still a chance" she may be released from an Iranian prison in time for a dream Christmas together. Unfortunately that didn't happen. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures February 2018 Richard Ratcliffe delivers a petition and a letter addressed to the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to demand her release, at the Iranian Embassy in London on February 21, 2018. He also left support letters for his spouse in the country's embassy, amid a visit by a deputy foreign minister. AFP/Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures August 2018 Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt meeting Richard Ratcliffe. Hunt has pledged to do everything possible to secure the release of a charity worker jailed in Iran Jeremy Hunt/PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in pictures August 2018 Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe hugs her daughter Gabriella, in Iran after she was allowed to leave the Iranian prison, she is being held in, for three days. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested during a holiday with her toddler daughter in April 2016. Iranian authorities accuse her of plotting against the government. Her family denies this, saying says she was in Iran to visit family. PA

It was scandalous that the family of a Londoner wrongly imprisoned in Iran were not allowed to address the biggest public gathering the Iranian community in London has ever had. The Ratcliffe family and Nazanin’s supporters were denied a unique and powerful platform.

I’m a Labour supporter, I backed Corbyn, but if you ask someone to resign for an error and five months down the line all you have shown is inaction, should there be a punishment?

Lefties often argue that to be inactive against injustice is to be complicit. By that reckoning, were Corbyn and Khan – who called for Johnson to go in November and were curiously silent on Tuesday when Nazanin marked her second year in jail – not complicit in her suffering?

Labour must now demand action against the inhumane incarceration of this innocent British woman in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Nazanin’s suffering is hard to imagine. Her child is allowed two 45 minute visits to her mum a week. The little girl talks to her father via Skype but she has forgotten how to speak English so her grandparents translate conversations between father and daughter.

Last Tuesday I hosted a comedy night in London with Amnesty International and the anti-torture charity Redress, to make the second anniversary of her imprisonment a little bit easier for her family to get through and to keep her in people’s minds.

Richard Ratcliffe, in his impossibly gentle and dignified manner, addressed the audience in a packed Conway Hall – he assured us that Nazanin drew some succour from knowing the event was happening.

Al Murray, Mark Steel and Sara Pascoe, the poet Luke Wright and young talents Tom Lucy and Lou Sanders all turned up and raised the roof.

Corbyn went to Iran in 2014. He has the respect of the Iranian government as an anti-imperialist who opposed the Iraq war. Why is he not speaking out? Why is Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor, not speaking out?