British couple narrates ‘life-threatening’ ordeal in Iran jail 

A British couple, Craig and Lindsay Foreman, are facing a “life-threatening” situation in an Iranian prison, where they’ve been held for over a year on espionage charges they deny. 

According to reports, this is the first public statement from Craig and Lindsay Foreman, who have been detained in Iran, since the conflict began on February 28.

The couple, who were arrested while on a motorbike trip, were sentenced to 10 years in prison. 

In a message recorded over the phone by the couple’s son, Joe Bennett, Craig Foreman claimed the evidence against him and his wife, Lindsay, was made up by Iranian authorities to justify their 10-year sentence, adding that the UK government knows they’re innocent.

Speaking from the Evin jail in Tehran, Craig Foreman appealed to the government to state publicly that they are not spies.

“It’s very difficult to understand why our innocence has not been said publicly. We are not spies. The charges against us are simply not true,” said Foreman.

He also expressed anger over “a serious lack of commitment” for their safety.

“We are now in prison in a war zone,” he said. “We have gone from a challenging situation to a life-threatening one. 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.”

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In response, the Foreign Office said in a statement that the welfare of British nationals continued to be a priority for the government.

“Craig and Lindsay’s sentences are completely appalling and totally unjustifiable. We will continue to pursue this case relentlessly with the Iranian regime until we see Craig and Lindsay safely returned to the UK and reunited with their family,” the statement said

BBC, however, reports that Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 53 and from East Sussex, were transferred last summer from the city of Kerman to Evin prison, where Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was held along with many political prisoners.

According to Bennett, the couple is being held in separate cells in “appalling” and deteriorating conditions.

Bennett also said there was no medical care, and food supplies were becoming increasingly scarce.

Continuing, he explained that they were sleeping in crowded cells on metal bunks with no mattresses, while recent explosions from the US-Israeli bombardment had struck close enough to send shockwaves through prison buildings.

According to him, the couple was not informed when British embassy staff were temporarily pulled out of Iran last month.

“My mom is in pieces,” said Mr Bennett. “She’s gone from always finding the positive to feeling completely lost. The sense that she’s been abandoned by her own government is breaking her.”

 “In the past few weeks, I’ve had to have some of the hardest conversations of my life. I had to tell my parents they’d been sentenced to 10 years in prison. I had to tell them the British Embassy had closed. And I had to tell them that ministers had been advised not to say publicly that they are innocent, or call this what it is: arbitrary detention,” he added.