A British couple imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin prison remain on hunger strike over access restrictions, raising health concerns as one of them is now barely able to walk, sources familiar with the matter told Iran International.
Lindsay Foreman and Craig Foreman were arrested in January 2025 while traveling through Iran during an around-the-world motorcycle trip.
They were later sentenced to 10 years in prison on espionage charges after Iranian authorities accused them of gathering information in several parts of the country, allegations they deny.
The couple lost their appeal against the sentence earlier this week, Reuters reported, citing their family.
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.
The couple began a strike after being denied phone calls, visits with each other and meetings with their lawyer following an interview with the BBC World Service.
Health concerns grow as hunger strike continues
Prison officials have exerted various forms of pressure on the two detainees in recent weeks to force them to end their hunger strike, a source familiar with their condition told Iran International.
The source said both prisoners had lost a significant amount of weight and that the prison deputy had visited their wards only once during that period.
Lindsay Foreman is now barely able to walk after nearly three weeks on hunger strike, the source added.
The head of Evin prison has stopped nurses from entering the women’s ward, where nurses had previously been present regularly, the source said. As a result, Lindsay Foreman’s blood pressure has not been measured or recorded for about a week.
In recent days, Lindsay Foreman’s cellmates obtained a blood pressure monitor from the guard officer after protesting and following up on her condition, and measured her blood pressure at 8 over 5, according to the source, who is familiar with the situation of political prisoners in Evin.
Her transfer to the infirmary was also difficult because she had to be carried up about 30 steps to reach it, the source said. Despite her condition, prison officials refused to record her medical status or provide the necessary care and returned her to the ward.
The source also said officials had refused in recent weeks to allow Lindsay Foreman to receive glasses, vitamin tablets and some hygiene items she needed, measures the source said are usually approved after some time even in similar cases.
A source close to the family of one prisoner held in Evin told Iran International that one of Lindsay Foreman’s cellmates quoted her as saying: “We only spoke about the conditions we live in; about the executions we see and hear about, and the names of those announced every day. This is the reality of our lives. Now, because we said what is happening, we have been denied phone calls and visits, while we are far from our families and children. We did not say anything new; we only recounted what is happening every day in Iran.”
The source added that Craig Foreman, explaining the reasons for his hunger strike to his cellmates, said: “In addition to being denied calls and visits, many of my cellmates have been taken away in recent months for their execution sentences to be carried out and never returned. Five people have been executed from the room where I am being held alone.”
