Brit claims he was jailed for 58 days in Iran on false "spy" charges

London, Aug 25 (ANI): Andrew Barber, a 43-year-old British citizen, has claimed he was falsely accused of "spying" and jailed in Iran for 58 days for taking a photograph of sunrise near a power plant in the country.

He said Iranian cops also searched his laptop and found snaps of Iraq's buildings, which they thought belonged to Iran and arrested him on June 21 this year. Barber was "shocked" when a judge accused him of espionage and sent him to the infamous Evin prison in Tehran, The Sun reports.

"When the judge called me a spy, I went weak at the knees and started staggering with shock," Andrew said.

The Iranian authorities refused him access to the British embassy. They allegedly put him in a 14 feet by 8 feet cell for 26 days, where he was blindfolded and subjected to interrogation and psychological torment.

"I had no furniture, and almost no natural light, only a bright fluorescent tube that stayed on 24/7, even when you were trying to sleep. I was allowed out of my cell ten minutes a day to use the toilet. I started to lose my mind after about seven days," he added.

Eventually, he was moved to share a cell with an Iranian prisoner before being handed over to the British embassy in Tehran. (ANI)