UK – The Independent, Mar. 24, 2026
British tourists Craig and Lindsay Foreman are serving a 10-year prison sentence in Iran for crimes they say they did not commit. As war escalates and their lives are put at risk, Radhika Sanghani speaks to their son and to Richard Ratcliffe, who says the government’s inaction echoes the six-year imprisonment of his wife, Nazanin
My name is Craig Foreman. I’ve been a carpenter and joiner all my life and I’ve been happily married to Lindsay for the last 10 years. We’re both currently serving 14 months into a 10-year prison sentence in Evin prison, Tehran, for crimes that were never committed: spying for the UK and Israel.”
This is the start of a voice message recorded by Craig Foreman from prison in Iran on the weekend, where bombs are falling around him. He and Lindsay were travelling the world on a motorcycle trip when they entered Iran on tourist visas with an approved itinerary and a tour guide. Four days later, they were arrested, and over a year on, the couple is imprisoned, separately, in the middle of a warzone.
Craig’s message, recorded on a call by his stepson Joe Bennett, directly addressed Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary. “You know we are innocent,” he said. “Go public with the information you have to clearly step up, step out of the shadows and help us. Our lives are constantly at risk… We have gone from a challenging situation to a life-threatening situation. You have chosen to give us zero information on what’s happening to us, what to do and where to go if the prison doors were to open.”
He added: “We’re proud to be British, but right now we feel let down, alone and completely frustrated by the lack of public defence by the people in charge of the government.”
Lindsay’s son Joe, 31, feels the same way. He met with the foreign secretary last week and had “high hopes” – but left feeling disappointed by the government’s refusal to publicly proclaim his parents’ innocence.
