Kamal Foroughi
Kamal Foroughi is a British-Iranian businessman currently imprisoned in Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran. Iranian authorities arrested him in May 2011 while he was living in Tehran as a consultant for the Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas. In 2013, he was sentenced to eight years in prison, seven for espionage and an additional year for possessing alcohol in his home.
Arrest and imprisonment in Iran
On 14 October 2015, The Guardian reported for the first time that Foroughi, a "76-year-old British national has been held in an Iranian jail for more than four years and convicted of spying." His family chose to break their silence in order to "draw attention to the plight of a man they describe as one of the 'oldest and loneliest prisoners in Iran.'"[1]
Iranian authorities in plain clothes arrested Foroughi on 5 May 2011. They "apparently did not show an arrest warrant or explain to him the reasons for arrest."[2] At the time, he was working in Tehran as a consultant for the Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas.[1] They jailed him in Evin Prison, "where he was held in solitary confinement for periods of time, without access to a lawyer or his family."[2] In 2013, Foroughi was sentenced to eight years in prison, seven for espionage and an additional year for possessing alcohol in his home. His son Kamran said, "My dad’s detention has been a total nightmare for all the family… We are not aware of any evidence that justifies the espionage charge."[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Briton, 76, has been in Iranian jail for 4 years on spying charges". The Guardian. 14 October 2015.
- ^ a b "Urgent Action: Health of Elderly Prisoner Remains at Risk" (PDF). Amnesty International. 29 January 2016.