Lindsay and Craig Foreman from East Sussex were arrested while travelling through Iran on a round-the-world motorcycle trip and sentenced to 10 years on espionage charges, which they deny
The “petrified” family of a British couple sentenced to 10 years in an Iranian prison on spying charges have revealed they’ve lost all contact with them. Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 53, were apprehended in January 2025 while journeying through Iran as part of a global motorcycle tour.
The pair, from East Sussex, are currently locked up in Tehran’s Evin prison, having been convicted on espionage charges, which they vehemently deny. Their loved ones fear that the couple’s telephone privileges, their sole line of communication with the outside world, have been revoked as retribution for speaking out about their imprisonment.
Their son Joe Bennett said: “We simply do not know if my mum and Craig are safe. Craig told us that they might have to stop eating if their calls were taken away.
“I have not spoken to my mum for over a week now. Every day of silence makes it worse. We don’t know what is happening to them and we are terrified for them.”
Telephone access was cut off earlier this month after they gave a media interview in which they expressed feeling “abandoned” while in custody and believed that the avenues to secure their release were dwindling, according to their campaign group.
In February, the Foreign Office announced it had “temporarily” pulled its staff out of Iran due to the threat of US strikes against the country.
It also advises against all travel to Iran, warning that British and British-Iranian nationals face a “significant risk of arrest, questioning or detention”.
It adds that “having a British passport or connections to the UK can be reason enough for the Iranian authorities to detain you”.
A Government spokesperson previously branded the prison terms handed to the couple as “completely appalling and totally unjustifiable”, stating their wellbeing remains a “priority” for ministers.
Ms Foreman, speaking for the first time since the US and Israel launched attacks against Iran on February 28, told ITV News she could hear the “whistling noise of missiles and the hum of the drones” in the vicinity and “people were hyperventilating, screaming”.
“The first day you could feel it, the impact of the bombs, the rockets, the missiles.”
Discussing conditions behind bars, Ms Foreman said: “When the buildings shake, there is nowhere to go. These buildings are not designed for safety.
“There’s no fire escape, there’s no access to the outside for us. If the building collapses, that will be the end.”