The key facts
- Lindsay and Craig Foreman were arrested in Iran in January 2025 during a motorcycle tour and sentenced to 10 years for espionage.
- The family submitted a petition with ~110,000 signatures demanding the detention be recognised as arbitrary and unlawful; UN experts called it 'state hostage-taking'.
- Premier Andy Burnham called the sentence 'astonishing and unjustifiable'; the family's meeting with Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is scheduled for next week.
Protest outside Parliament
British-Iranian Anoosheh Ashoori, 72, who spent more than five years in Tehran's Evin prison and was released in 2022 as part of a deal involving a payment of £400 million ($535 million), went to the UK Parliament building on Wednesday to urge the government to work harder to secure the release of the British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman. He told The National that he still suffers from nightmares connected to his imprisonment and believes that conditions in Evin have worsened since then: according to former cellmates, illnesses have intensified, the quality of food has declined, and 'the tyranny has intensified'.
The Foreman case
The couple was arrested in January 2025 during a motorcycle journey through Iran and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for espionage. The family has repeatedly expressed concern about their health and conditions of detention. After the arrest, Iran saw a war with the US and a popular uprising, which, according to the publication, has intensified the paranoia and repression by the security services. UN experts characterised the detention as 'state hostage-taking for political leverage', pointing to 'violations' during the process last year.
Reaction of the authorities and the family
Premier Andy Burnham said in Parliament on Wednesday that the sentence was 'astonishing and unjustifiable' and promised to 'work tirelessly' to bring the couple home. Tensions between London and Tehran are at a record high after a suspected terror attack on a British airbase used by American bombers, as well as attacks on Jewish shops and Iranian dissidents in the UK, which police link to Iranian officials.
Petition and next steps
Lindsay's son Joe Bennett and other family members handed to the Foreign Office a petition signed by around 110,000 people, demanding that the Foremans' detention be recognised as 'arbitrary' and 'unlawful'. They were joined by Richard Ratcliffe — the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, released in the same 2022 deal — as well as MPs and supporters. The couple's MP, Tony Vaughan, told The National that the options are limited because it is unclear what Iran wants, and that the government should 'call things by their proper names'. Next week the family will meet with Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband; Bennett expects 'concrete answers' on why the detention is not being recognised as arbitrary, and noted that the family is considering an appeal to the International Court of Justice at The Hague. Ashoori also emphasised that the families of detainees also become victims of the trauma: 'this is what I call the shrapnel'.
