Iran jails British motorcycle tourists for 10 years, family fears for safety
Their only phone link was cut off in early May, deepening fears for Lindsay and Craig Foreman after Iran handed the East Sussex couple 10-year sentences.
The Foreman family’s alarm sharpened when Lindsay and Craig Foreman lost their only contact with the outside world. After more than a year in Iranian custody, the East Sussex couple had their phone access cut off in early May, and relatives say they have not heard from them for more than a week.
The couple were arrested in January 2025 while riding through Iran on an around-the-world motorcycle trip. They were first held in Kerman before being transferred to Tehran’s Evin Prison in October 2025, then later sentenced by a Revolutionary Court to 10 years in prison on espionage charges on 19 February 2026. Lindsay Foreman and Craig Foreman deny the allegations.
For the family, the latest rupture in contact has become the most worrying development yet. Relatives and supporters have described the case as one of the most severe politically motivated detentions of UK nationals in Iran, and they say the couple are now more exposed than ever inside Evin, where foreign detainees have long been treated as bargaining chips in wider disputes between Tehran and Western governments.
Their son, Joe Bennett, has said the pair were denied legal representation and subjected to gruelling conditions. He described the sentence as a “thunder punch to the stomach.” The family says it is “terrified” for their safety and wellbeing, particularly after their only means of communication was shut down.
Britain’s leverage in cases like this is real but limited. London can condemn the sentence, summon pressure through diplomacy, and keep the case alive through consular channels, but it cannot compel Iran’s courts or security services to change course. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called the sentence “totally unjustifiable” and said the government would continue to press for their release. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has said it is deeply concerned and continues to raise the case directly with Iranian authorities.
The episode has also revived a harsher warning for ordinary travellers: geopolitics can suddenly eclipse personal circumstance. A motorcycle tour that began as a private adventure has turned into a hostage-diplomacy dispute, with a prison sentence, a severed phone line and no clear path to freedom. For the Foremans, the risk is no longer abstract. It is measured in missed calls, locked doors and the fear that silence itself has become part of the punishment.
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