Britain – Joe Bennett, the son of Lindsay and Craig Foreman, the British tourists detained in Iran since February 2024, has called on the British government to take urgent action. His aim is to secure his parents’ release before Christmas.
Bennett said on Tuesday, November 11, that his parents had lost nearly a year of their lives in Iranian prisons. This is happening while “governments are still calculating their next move.” He added, “We must not allow this to become normal. Silence is complicity. My family cannot tolerate this continuing any longer.”
The couple were arrested in Kerman while traveling around the world on a motorcycle. Iranian authorities later accused them of attempting to “gather intelligence” under the guise of tourism, charges they vehemently denied.
Lindsay and Craig were tried on October 26 in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on charges of “espionage.” They remain detained in Evin Prison. The family reports that Lindsay is being held in solitary confinement among prisoners who do not speak English, while her husband suffers from an untreated dental infection and poor health.
Bennett said: “I’ve only spoken to my mother twice in the last eleven months. Every day we don’t know if she’s okay or if my stepfather’s pain has worsened. It’s a never-ending nightmare.” He added that Britain should act decisively, as France did when it repatriated its citizens Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris after they were detained for three years in Iran.
The family’s statements indicate that Iran’s detention of Western citizens constitutes “state-sponsored hostage-taking.” Human rights activists say Tehran uses this as a tool of pressure in its dealings with the West.
Bennett confirmed that his parents entered Iran with a valid visa and on an official tourist route, and that they deny all the accusations against them.
