Iran jails sick French national for spying

An Iranian court has jailed a 64-year-old Frenchman with serious health problems for six and half years for alleged espionage, according to his family.
The authorities accused Bernard Phelan of having given information to an enemy country and passed the sentence at the end of February, his sister wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
Phelan denies the accusation and other charges against him after his detention in early October during an educational trip to the north-eastern city of Mashhad.
Police who made the arrest accused him of photographing a burnt mosque and police personnel. Later, Phelan, who has both French and Irish citizenship, was accused of spreading "propaganda against the regime" and sending photos to a British newspaper. He was also accused of taking pieces of old pottery.
France's Foreign Ministry confirmed in mid-January that Phelan was being held in Iran and said it was working to secure his immediate release. There was no information about the case from Iranian authorities.
According to his family, Phelan's health has deteriorated significantly since his arrest. He has serious heart problems, a high risk of stroke and kidney failure, and suffers from chronic pain due to problems with his bones.
He had initially been given a lesser sentence and been told that he would be pardoned because of his age and poor health, relatives said.
Iran has imprisoned several foreigners in recent years on charges of espionage or other national security offences. Human rights groups criticize the trials, which are often held behind closed doors, as unfair.