The family of a 76-year-old British-Iranian businessman imprisoned in Iran for more than four years has called on David Cameron to do more to secure his release in the wake of Tehran’s recent prisoner swap with the US.
Kamal Foroughi, who has been described by his family as one of the “oldest and loneliest prisoners in Iran”, was working in Tehran as a consultant for the Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas before his arrest in May 2011. He was held at the notorious Evin prison and eventually sentenced in 2013 to a total of eight years’ imprisonment, which he is still serving.
His ordeal only came to light in October when his son, Kamran Foroughi, spoke to the Guardian about the nightmare his family have gone through.
On Monday Kamran said he expected the British government to step up efforts to free his father. “Today is day 1,720 of my dad’s detention,” he told the Guardian. “We are very worried about his health. He had a medical on Tuesday 17 November, but we still haven’t heard any news about what tests were done or the outcome of those tests.”
According to Kamran, no family members have been able to visit his father in jail in the past four years and he is not allowed any visitors apart from his lawyer. “My dad had a meeting with his lawyer Saturday morning, and reported back to us that he was feeling hopeful about the near future,” Kamran said, citing the news that Iran had swapped five Americans, of which four were dual nationals, in exchange for seven Iranians jailed in the US on charges of violating sanctions.
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