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A British couple on what they described as the trip of a lifetime have been jailed in Iran for 10 years after being accused of spying.
Lindsay and Craig Foreman were arrested by Iranian authorities in January 2025 while travelling around the world on a motorcycle.
The couple, from East Sussex, are being held in Evin Prison in Tehran and have consistently denied the allegations of espionage.
Lindsay’s son, Joe Bennett, described the sentencing as “gut-wrenching” in an interview with BBC.
“I do believe that the Government, all along this process, have said that we’ve got to wait for sentencing,” he said. “Now that that’s happened, I feel they can step up to the mark — and they should step up to the mark.
“You don’t ever fully know, but if you look at history, the 10 years is just a number, and we have to work towards it being as short a time as possible.
“There isn’t much of a playbook, but if you look at how these cases unfold after sentencing, we’ve seen some resolved within weeks, while others unfortunately drag on for years.”
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper described the sentence as “completely appalling and totally unjustifiable.”
“We will pursue this case relentlessly with the Iranian government until we see Craig and Lindsay Foreman safely returned to the UK and reunited with their family,” she said.
“They have consistently denied the allegations. We have seen no evidence to support the charge of espionage.
“We were previously told that once sentencing occurred, further action would follow. We now hope the UK Government will act decisively and use every available avenue to secure their release.”
In January, Bennett was joined by former detainee Anoosheh Ashoori and Richard Ratcliffe, who led a high-profile campaign — including two hunger strikes — to secure the release of his wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
Speaking to ITV News ahead of his sentencing, Foreman had a one-word message for the UK Government: “Help. Full stop.”
“I don’t understand why we have been here for 13 months, being held hostage in 2026. In what day and age does this happen? When does this end?” he said.
He described being held in an eight-foot cell with a hole in the floor and a sink, adding: “Emotionally and physically, it broke me to pieces.”
Craig said that infrequent meetings with his wife have helped sustain him.
“I know her prison is just 70 metres away, and I get to see her once a month,” he said.
“For Lindsay and for me, seeing each other is the only thing that’s keeping us going right now.
“I love my wife dearly. She’s the love of my life.”
