A British man jailed for a decade in Iran on spying charges has accused the UK government of abandoning him and his wife. Craig Foreman, speaking from prison, expressed profound disappointment alongside his partner, Lindsay, after they were handed 10-year sentences.
The 53-year-olds, who deny the espionage charges, feel “let down, alone and completely frustrated” by the handling of their case, Mr Foreman stated. The couple, from East Sussex, were detained in January 2025 while on an around-the-world motorcycle journey through Iran and are now held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
They have sharply criticised the government, alleging they were left to fend for themselves in what Mr Foreman described as a “war zone”.
In a statement, Mr Foreman called on the government to “step out of the shadows and help us”.
He said: “We are 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.
“We were charged based on falsified evidence that was fabricated to suit the maximum sentence.
“Our government are fully aware of this information and know we are 100 per cent innocent.
“We are proud to be British, but by now we feel let down, alone, and completely frustrated by the lack of public defence by the people in charge of the government.”
He continued: “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.
“I am asking you, Sir Keir Starmer, Yvette Cooper, Hamish Falconer and Hugo Shorter, you know we are innocent.
“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 are now in a prison in a war zone. 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.
“There is a serious lack of commitment for our safety.”
A family spokesperson previously said an explosion blew out the windows of the space where Mr Foreman is being held, sending ceiling plaster raining down on the inmates.
The spokesperson also said Ms Foreman described to her son how women dived under metal bunk beds for cover.
Mr Foreman’s statement added: “Lastly, we would like to say a massive thank you to our families and friends who have been… and are still the driving force and the backbone fighting for our release and our safe passage back home.”
Ms Foreman’s son, Joe Bennett, said his mother is “in pieces” – calling their detention a “slow-motion destruction”.
He said: “My mum is in pieces. 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.”
“They are not spies, and our government knows that. They do not believe these charges.
“They need to say so publicly. Anything less only helps sustain a false narrative and prolongs the suffering of innocent people.
“They are being held in appalling conditions; sleeping on metal bunks without mattresses, in constant pain. Craig is in agony with an untreated dental abscess.
“They have nowhere to turn. This isn’t just detention, it’s slow-motion destruction.”
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) warns all British and British-Iranian nationals not to travel to Iran because of a “significant risk of arrest, questioning or detention”.
The FCDO has been approached for comment.
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