Member of Parliament for Hertsmere, Oliver Dowden, has pledged to continue supporting Hertsmere resident, Kamran Foroughi, with his campaign to secure the release of his 76 year old father, Kamal Foroughi, from Evin prison, Tehran. Mr Dowden made the commitment whilst discussing the Kamal Foroughi case on BBC World Tonight programme last Friday: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07pd4zn.
During the programme Kamran Foroughi discussed at length his campaign and how difficult the past 5 years have been for him and his family. Kamal Foroughi has now been in prison for over five years. This coming Saturday will mark Kamal’s 77th birthday. He was 71 when he was first detained. Earlier this month Kamal Foroughi received positive news from his lawyers indicating that he would shortly be released. However, there are fears that this appears to have been a false dawn as Kamran Foroughi and his daughters continue to wait to be reunited with Grandpa Kamal.
Last summer Kamran Foroughi went public with his campaign to secure his father’s release and met with his local MP at one of Mr Dowden’s constituency advice surgeries in Radlett. Since the meeting last summer, Mr Dowden has raised Kamal Foroughi’s case three times in Parliament, has met with the Foreign Office Minister, Tobias Ellwood MP, and in May led an Adjournment debate in Parliament, attended by over twenty of his Parliamentary colleagues, calling for Kamal Foroughi's release on compassionate grounds: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-05-19/debates/16051960000004/DetentionOfKamalForoughiInIran#contribution-16051962000017
Mr Dowden said:
“It is desperately disappointing that this coming Saturday will represent Kamal Foroughi’s sixth birthday in prison away from his loved ones. Earlier this month Kamran and his family were given reason to believe that they might be reunited with Grandpa Kamal. Sadly this was not the first time that they were cruelly left disappointed.
“As I said on BBC World Tonight last Friday, I will continue to do what I can to support my constituent with his campaign and I think it is important that the UK Government use any points of leverage that they have have in future to battle to secure Kamal Foroughi’s release.”
Kamran Foroughi’s petition calling for his father’s release has now attracted 217,000 signatures and can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/theresa-may-president-hassan-rouhani-iran-please-let-grandpa-come-home-%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%81%D8%A7-%D9%BE%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%B2%D8%B1%DA%AF%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87-%D8%A8%D8%B1%DA%AF%D8%B1%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C%D8%AF-freekamalforoughi/u/17600318?recruiter=413338968&utm_source=share_update&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=share_twitter_responsive