UK couple imprisoned in Iran lose appeal against 10-year sentence for spying

LONDON -- A British couple jailed in Iran on spying allegations have lost an appeal against their convictions, their family and the U.K. government said Tuesday.

Craig and Lindsay Foreman were detained in January 2025 while on an around-the-world motorcycle trip. In February they were handed 10-year prison sentences for espionage, which they both deny.

Britain’s Foreign Office called the couple’s incarceration “unjustified and appalling.”

“We are disappointed by the appeal decision and will continue working to ensure that Craig and Lindsay are returned safely to the U.K.,” it said in a statement.

“Since their arrest last year, Britain’s ambassador to Tehran, diplomats and officials in London have been working to provide consular assistance. This includes the ambassador visiting them in prison and facilitating calls with their family back in the U.K.”

Lindsay Foreman’s son Joe Bennett said neither detainee was allowed to attend the appeal hearing, and they had been asked to sign documents they could not read. He said both had begun hunger strikes.

“Their case has now passed to the Supreme Court, but we don’t understand the process, the timeline, or what, if anything, will be submitted in their name," Bennett said.

The U.K. government has for several years advised British and British-Iranian nationals against traveling to Iran, whose government has a history of detaining and releasing Western nationals on security charges. The country has long been accused of holding those with Western ties as prisoners to be used as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West. Iran denies those accusations.

In 2022, Iran released British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe after more than five years. She had been sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of plotting to overthrow Iran’s government, a charge that she, her supporters and rights groups denied.