British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman, sentenced to 10 years in prison on espionage charges in Iran, have been barred from visiting each other in Tehran’s Evin prison for three weeks, sources familiar with the matter told Iran International.
The Foremans, both in their 50s, were arrested in January 2025 while on a motorcycle trip through Iran. Their family says they had valid visas, a licensed guide, and an approved itinerary. They deny the espionage charges.
The Foremans are being held in separate wings of Tehran’s Evin prison, which rights groups have long criticized over alleged torture and inhumane conditions.
A source familiar with the matter said visits between political prisoners and their families were cut off after the Iran-US-Israel war began, with cabin visits restored for some prisoners only in the past two to three weeks.
The source said prisoners with relatives also held in Evin had been allowed ward-to-ward visits.
But when Lindsay and Craig Foreman asked prison officials on Sunday to see each other, they were told they had been banned from both in-person and cabin visits for three weeks because of their BBC World interview, the source said.
Lindsay Foreman said in the interview that her situation was frightening, adding that while it would one day end for them, “for these people it may never end.”
Craig Foreman said four of his cellmates had been taken away for their sentences to be carried out since he was transferred to Evin, with news of their executions broadcast on state television the following day.
Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has previously said it was “deeply concerned” by the couple’s detention and that it continued to raise the case directly with Iranian authorities.
Rights groups and Western governments have long accused Iran of engaging in so-called “hostage diplomacy” by detaining foreign nationals to gain political or economic concessions, an allegation Tehran rejects, saying it faces Western intelligence infiltration.
