Kamal Foroughi ( fa, کمال فروغی; born 3 September 1939) is a British-Iranian businessman who was imprisoned in Evin Prison in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. 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.

Bio

Foroughi moved to Britain from Iran in the 1970s. His wife, two children, and two granddaughters all live in the UK.

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 publicly speak out years after his arrest in order to "draw attention to the plight of a man they describe as one of the 'oldest and loneliest prisoners in Iran.'" Iranian plain clothes authorities arrested Foroughi on 5 May 2011. They "apparently did not show an arrest warrant or explain to him the reasons for arrest." At the time, he was working in Tehran as a consultant for the Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas. 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." 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."

Calls for release

On 11 December 2015, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' and ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' reported that UK Prime Minister David Cameron had personally written to the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, requesting the release of Foroughi. During a visit to Tehran in August 2015, UK Foreign Secretary

Philip Hammond Philip Hammond, Baron Hammond of Runnymede (born 4 December 1955) is a British politician and life peer who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2016 to 2019, Foreign Secretary from 2014 to 2016, and Defence Secretary from 2011 to 2014. ...

also raised the case of Foroughi with Rouhani.

Release from prison

He was released from detention in late 2018 but was unable to return to his family in Britain as he waited for his Iranian passport to be renewed. On 1 April 2020, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement that he had returned to the United Kingdom.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foroughi, Kamal Living people Iranian emigrants to the United Kingdom Iranian prisoners and detainees British people imprisoned in Iran 1939 births Inmates of Evin Prison Iranian businesspeople British businesspeople

Bio

Arrest and imprisonment in Iran

Calls for release

Release from prison

See also

References