Iran says British couple on round-the-world trip held on espionage charges
Craig and Lindsey Foreman accused of ‘posing as tourists’ to gather information while working with institutions linked to spy agencies in enemy countries
Iranian authorities said Tuesday that a British couple arrested last month in the country’s southeast had been charged with espionage and accused of links to Western intelligence services.
Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said Craig and Lindsay Foreman had entered Iran “posing as tourists” and gathered information before their arrest in Kerman province.
According to the judiciary’s Mizan Online website, the Kerman judiciary chief Ebrahim Hamidi said that the couple’s links to foreign intelligence services “has been confirmed.”
Mizan quoted Jahangir as saying that the pair had been held by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “over espionage charges.”
The Foremans “had gathered information from several provinces” and were found to be “cooperating with covert institutions linked to the intelligence services of hostile and Western countries,” the spokesman said.
According to the BBC, the couple, in their early 50s, were on a motorbike trip around the world when they were detained in January.
Social media posts show the duo crossed into Iran from Armenia in December and were gradually making their way toward Australia.
On Friday, Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed that it was “providing consular assistance to two British nationals detained in Iran” and was in contact with Iranian authorities.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported last week that British Ambassador Hugo Shorter met with the couple at the Kerman prosecutor’s office.
The agency also published a photo of the meeting, with the couple’s faces blurred.
The British government advises against all travel to Iran.
Several other Europeans are held in custody in Iran, which has conducted multiple prisoner exchanges with Western governments in recent years.
In January 2023, Iran announced the execution of British-Iranian dual citizen Alireza Akbari, prompting outrage among Western governments including Britain, which called it “barbaric.”
Akbari had been convicted of spying for Britain.
