British man jailed in Iran given additional two-year sentence, family says

The family of British couple Craig and Lindsay Foreman, who are serving a 10-year prison sentence in Iran on espionage charges that they deny, said on Wednesday that a judge had extended Craig Foreman’s sentence by two years for speaking to the media.

The couple was arrested in 2025 while traveling through Iran by motorcycle as part of a round-the-world journey. Britain has described their original sentences as “totally unjustifiable.”

Joe Bennett, Lindsay Foreman’s son and the family’s spokesperson, said they had received reports that Craig Foreman had been taken before a judge and informed that his sentence had been extended because he had spoken to the media.

“We understand he was told he was being taken to see his lawyer, but was instead brought before a judge and informed of the additional sentence,” Bennett said in a statement.

He said Craig Foreman had been denied access to a lawyer and a translator and was given no opportunity to defend himself.

A spokesperson for Britain’s foreign ministry said in an emailed statement that it was “urgently following up with the Iranian authorities about the reported increased sentence.”

Last month, two independent UN experts said the Foremans appeared to have been wrongfully detained and sentenced following proceedings that failed to meet basic fair trial guarantees, while expressing concern over a hunger strike the couple began in May.

Also on Wednesday, Iran’s judiciary said it hanged a man after finding him guilty of taking part in anti-government protests that rocked the country over the winter.

“Mohammad Amini Dehaghani, a collaborator with the enemy, was hanged this morning after confirmation of the verdict by the supreme court,” the judiciary’s press agency reported.

He was found guilty of moharebeh (war against God in Persian) and “corruption on earth.”

The condemned had “thrown a Molotov cocktail on January 9 outside the governor’s office in Dehaghan, set it alight and destroyed public property as well as the town’s police station,” state media added.

At the end of December, protests against the cost of living in Iran spread rapidly across the country and expanded to include political demands.

Iran brutally suppressed the protests, with opposition groups saying tens of thousands were killed in the crackdown that included live fire at crowds.

Iranian authorities have portrayed the protests as riots backed by the United States and Israel, and said the violence killed around 3,000 people. Rights groups abroad put the toll higher and accused the security forces of firing at demonstrators.

The number of executions has surged since the outbreak of Iran’s war with the US and Israel on February 28. According to Amnesty International, Iran conducts the second most executions of any country, after China.