A BRITISH COUPLE detained in Iran since January 2025 have been sentenced to 10 years in jail for espionage, their family announced this afternoon, triggering condemnation from the UK government.

Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both in their 50s, were arrested while travelling through the country on an around-the-world motorcycle journey, according to relatives, and have consistently denied Tehran’s spying claims.

They are just the latest Westerners held by Iran since the Islamic revolution, with Tehran accused of so-called “hostage diplomacy” to extract concessions from its foes in Europe and from the United States.

News of the sentences comes amid heightened tensions over its nuclear programme, with US President Donald Trump deploying military assets to the region and again hinting he might attack the country.

The family said the sentencing followed a court appearance last October that lasted just three hours, where they were not allowed to present any defence.

“They have consistently denied the allegations. We have seen no evidence to support the charge of espionage,” their son Joe Bennett said in a statement.

Bennett told AFP it was a massive shock when he first heard the news of the sentencing.

“It was sorrow, frustration, anger, disbelief, you know, there’s a big array of emotions that came through, which were overwhelming,” Bennett said.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper hit out at the sentences, calling them “completely appalling and totally unjustifiable”.

‘So few tools at our disposal’

“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,” Cooper said in a statement.

“In the meantime, their welfare is our priority and we will continue to provide consular assistance to them and their families.”

The couple were first detained as they passed through Kerman, in central Iran.

Tehran has insisted they are spies, with Iran’s judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir last year alleging the Foremans entered Iran “posing as tourists” and gathered information before their arrest.

Lindsay Foreman is currently being held in the women’s section of Evin Prison in Tehran while Craig is in its political wing.

The prison has long been criticised by international human rights organisations for its dire conditions and treatment of prisoners.

In a BBC radio telephone interview conducted yesterday before news of the sentences, Lindsay said her detention had been a “rollercoaster”.

“We have so few tools at our disposal. We have no voice … all we can do is write letters and go on hunger strike,” she said, adding the couple were “prepared to suffer” to protest their plight.

Lindsay said she also took responsibility for having entered Iran, against UK government travel advice.

‘Array of emotions’

Bennett is again turning his attention to securing his parents’ release, hoping for tougher action from the UK government.

Joe Bennett pictured at a protest in January. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

It was the first time in 14 months that “we’ve heard those kind of words be said publicly about my parents’ case,” he said of Cooper’s comments.

“So that has to give us some hope.”

Bennett said the UK government had previously said it was constrained until sentencing and now they have promised to “raise it at the highest levels”.

“The fight is only just begun now because they’ve been sentenced,” he said.

“In all honesty, for the last 14 months, it feels like we’ve been fighting a war on a couple of fronts, not only with the Iranians, but with our government to take action.”

The family have been receiving advice from previous detainees in Iran and their relatives, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her husband Richard.

She was released in 2022, after six years in detention, after a decades-old debt dispute between London and Tehran was settled.

Meanwhile, the family may take some encouragement after Iranian authorities last year released two French nationals, Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, from jail in Tehran after more than three years.

“When will they be released?” Bennett said of his parents. “I don’t know. That is a very hard one to predict.”

Bennett, 31, quit his sales job last year to devote his time to his parents’ cause.

“It’s really knocked me for six, being thrust into a role that, you know, you didn’t really expect,” he said.

The hardest thing is not being able to give his mum a hug and “the not knowing when that next one’s going to be,” he said, holding back tears.