{"id":433858,"date":"2026-02-19T09:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T09:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/433858\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T09:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T09:16:07","slug":"jail-sentence-for-british-couple-in-iran-totally-unjustifiable-says-foreign-secretary-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/433858\/","title":{"rendered":"Jail sentence for British couple in Iran \u2018totally unjustifiable\u2019, says foreign secretary | Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 10-year jail sentence handed to a British couple in Iran is \u201ctotally unjustifiable\u201d, Yvette Cooper<\/a> has said.<\/p>\n

Lindsay and Craig Foreman were arrested in January 2025 while travelling through the country on an around-the-world motorcycle journey and detained on charges of espionage. The couple from East Sussex, who are being held in Tehran\u2019s Evin prison, deny the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sentence is completely appalling and totally unjustifiable,\u201d said Cooper, the foreign secretary. \u201cWe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the meantime, their welfare is our priority and we will continue to provide consular assistance to them and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindsay Foreman said she came to the country on a \u201cglobal initiative to focus on the good\u201d. Speaking to the BBC before the sentencing, she said: \u201cIf anything, my desire to find what connects us is even greater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe Bennett, Lindsay Foreman\u2019s son, told ITV News they had been informed of the sentence last week and his family was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d for the pair\u2019s welfare and the \u201clack of transparency\u201d in their judicial process.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents have now been sentenced to 10 years following a trial that lasted just three hours and in which they were not allowed to present a defence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have consistently denied the allegations. We have seen no evidence to support the charge of espionage.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January, Bennett was joined by Anoosheh Ashoori \u2013 a British-Iranian who was imprisoned in the country for five years \u2013 and Richard Ratcliffe, who fought a public campaign that involved two hunger strikes to have his wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, freed from Iran, at the steps of No 10 to deliver a 70,000-signature petition calling on the government to do more to free them.<\/p>\n

The couple is due to appear before a court in Tehran in the coming days.<\/p>\n

Craig Foreman said the infrequent meetings with his wife were what sustained him.\u201cI know her prison is just 70 metres away, and I get to see her once a month,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me and for Lindsay, seeing each other is the only thing that\u2019s keeping us going right now. I love my wife dearly. She\u2019s the love of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 10-year jail sentence handed to a British couple in Iran is \u201ctotally unjustifiable\u201d, Yvette Cooper has said.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-433858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}