{"id":113833,"date":"2026-05-14T16:06:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/113833\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:06:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:06:06","slug":"british-couple-detained-in-iran-cut-off-from-contact-with-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/113833\/","title":{"rendered":"British couple detained in Iran cut off from contact with family"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of a British couple detained for more than a year in Iran say contact has been cut off for over a week.<\/p>\n

Lindsay and Craig Foreman<\/a>, who are being held in Evin<\/a> prison after being arrested on holiday, had been allowed to make 10-minute phone calls to their relatives almost daily.<\/p>\n

But that access was withdrawn after Ms Foreman gave a media interview.<\/p>\n

Joe Bennett<\/a>, Lindsay’s son, said: \u201cWe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day of silence makes it worse. We don\u2019t know what is happening to them and we are terrified for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple, from East Sussex, were arrested while on a motorcycle world tour on January 3, 2025. They were jailed over espionage allegations, which they deny.<\/p>\n

The UK government withdrew its diplomatic staff from Tehran in February and closed its embassy following the outbreak of the US-Iran war. <\/p>\n

Chaos in the prisons and a rise in executions following the hostilities heightened concern for the Foremans’ well-being. <\/p>\n

Their family believe the UK government is not working hard enough to secure the couple\u2019s release. <\/p>\n

The British ambassador to Iran, Hugo Shorter, allegedly \u201cindicated there was effectively no clear channel currently available to engage on securing the couple\u2019s release\u201d in a phone call to Ms Foreman, the family said.<\/p>\n

The conversation left her \u201cfeeling like Britain had determined to simply abandon them in prison\u201d, her son said.<\/p>\n

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is understood to be in contact with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to secure the Foremans’ release and to have the phone calls reinstated.<\/p>\n

The family’s frustration has been compounded by the return in April of two French nationals<\/a>, Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who had been detained in Iran. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrance found a way to bring its citizens home from Iran. We need to know why Britain cannot even find out what is happening to two of its own citizens,\u201d Mr Bennett said.<\/p>\n

He urged Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to \u201cpersonally intervene, to use every channel available and treat this as the emergency it is\u201d.<\/p>\n

Judge Abolghasem Salavati, who sentenced the Foremans, is sanctioned by the UK, US and the EU for alleged involvement in unfair trials and human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

A Foreign Office spokesperson said the UK would continue to work to ensure the couple are \u201creturned safely to the UK\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Lindsay and Craig\u2019s arrest last year, Britain\u2019s ambassador to Tehran, diplomats and officials in London have been working to provide consular assistance,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cThis includes the ambassador visiting them in prison and facilitating calls with their family back in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Foreign Secretary last met the family on 17 March. She set out to them personally how unjustified and appalling we consider Lindsay and Craig\u2019s incarceration to be, and the action that the UK Government is taking to try to secure their release.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a British couple detained for more than a year in Iran say contact has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[34,274,273,812],"class_list":{"0":"post-113833","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iran","8":"tag-iran","9":"tag-standard","10":"tag-story","11":"tag-uk-bureau"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116573790723783589","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}