Family of British couple jailed in Iran say they have lost contact

The “terrified” family of a British couple jailed for 10 years in Iran on spying charges have said they have lost all contact with them.

Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 53, were arrested in January 2025 while travelling through Iran during an around-the-world trip by motorcycle.

The couple, from East Sussex, are being held in Tehran’s Evin prison and sentenced on espionage charges, which they deny.

Their family fears the couple’s telephone access, their only means of contact with the outside world, has been cut off as payback for speaking out about their detention.

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 stopped earlier this month after they gave a media interview when they said they felt abandoned while in detention and felt that the channels to try to secure their release were closing, their campaign group has said.

In February, the Foreign Office said it had temporarily withdrawn its staff from Iran because of the threat of US strikes against the country.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 spokesman previously described the jail sentences the pair received as “completely appalling and totally unjustifiable”, saying their welfare is a “priority” for the government.

Lindsay Foreman, in her first interview since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on 28 February, told ITV News she could hear the “whistling noise of missiles and the hum of the drones” nearby and “people were hyperventilating, screaming”.

“The first day you could feel it – the impact of the bombs, the rockets, the missiles,” she said.

Talking about prison conditions, she 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.”