A British couple who were detained in Iran last year while on a motorcycle tour around the world have been sentenced to 10 years in prison on espionage charges, the couple’s family said on Thursday.
The couple, Craig and Lindsay Foreman, were arrested by Iranian authorities in January 2025. Iranian state media later announced that they were accused of “security crimes,” charges that the couple’s relatives and the British government have rejected. The family said they were informed of the sentence of Wednesday, but were not told when it was passed.
Yvette Cooper, Britain’s foreign secretary, said in a statement on Thursday that the couple’s sentencing was “completely appalling and totally unjustifiable” and that the British government would work to bring them back to Britain.
The Iranian authorities have not publicly commented on the couple’s sentencing or on the announcement by their family, which came after Britain condemned the Iranian government at the United Nations and imposed new sanctions against Iranian officials, including the country’s interior minister and police chiefs, over the killing of thousands of antigovernment protesters.
The announcement also came amid high-stakes diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear program and heightened tensions over the possibility of a U.S. strike on Iranian territory.
A 2023 report by a committee of British lawmakers described Iran’s practice of detaining British nationals on spurious charges as “state hostage taking,” sometimes carried out for the purpose of “diplomatic leverage.” Other countries have also accused Iran of detaining people to press for the release of Iranian prisoners abroad or to free frozen funds.
Mr. and Ms. Foreman’s family said in a statement on Thursday that the couple were sentenced after a hearing held on Oct. 27 by an Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran, Iran’s capital, and that they were “not permitted to present a defense.”
The family said the sentence was passed by Judge Abolghassem Salavati, who was sanctioned by the United States Treasury in 2019 for conducting “show trials” in which “scores of political prisoners, human rights activists and peaceful demonstrators” were unjustly convicted, and sometimes sentenced to death.
Joe Bennett, Ms. Foreman’s son from a previous marriage, said the family had “seen no evidence to support the charge of espionage.”
“They have already spent more than 13 months in detention,” he said in a statement. “We are deeply concerned about their welfare and about the lack of transparency in the judicial process.”
The family said they had been informed by Iranian officials and in phone calls with Mr. and Ms. Foreman that the couple were being held in different wings of Evin prison in Tehran, which is notorious for the torture and execution of dissidents and political prisoners.
The couple were arrested while traveling through Iran as part of a motorcycle trip that was supposed to end in Australia. They previously lived in Spain, where Ms. Foreman worked as a psychologist and life coach and Mr. Foreman as a carpenter.
Their children have been campaigning for their release and started a petition that has so far been signed by more than 63,000 people. In a statement on a website for that campaign, the couple’s children said the couple had valid visas for Iran and had “no ties to any government.”
Mr. and Mrs. Foreman, who had recorded their travels on social media, noted on Facebook in December 2024 that the British government warned against most travel to Iran and that “the news paints a pretty grim picture.” But they added: “We want to find out for ourselves.”
Britain’s Foreign Office advises against all travel to Iran and warns of a “significant risk of arrest, questioning or detention” for British nationals.
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