Couple held in Iran

[StrawDonkey]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c626p6pz7xlo

AIBU to not understand why anyone would go on a motorcycle trip to Iran? Advice is not to go there at all but I can understand that someone desperate to see family would take a risk.

Well Said

'Mrs Foreman is reported to have been carrying out a research project on their journey to Australia, asking people what it means to be human and what constitutes a good life.
She was due to present her findings at a conference on positive psychology in Brisbane in July.'

She may have some interesting material.

Same reaction when I met some people who went to North Korea 'for fun'.

What eejits.

Is there a way for the UK government to actually stop people like this travelling there for no good reason?

AFAIK Iranian people are free to travel to some countries, so Iranians who live in the UK can arrange to meet their families in other places. Although I appreciate this may be very difficult for some people.

Nevertheless, I do hope this couple will be free to go soon.

Tax payers money will be spent on them though. Though much. Its pretty obvious you don't go there.

@Chuchoter you are mixing up Iran and Afghanistan.

They seem to have been remarkably naive. There are good kind people everywhere, of course there are. Doesn't mean they're the ones in charge! There are millions of good kind people in Russia and in the USA but it's Putin, Trump, Vance and the like who are pulling the strings. Don't take risks like this. There are many other beautiful and fascinating places in the world to explore. I feel sorry for the people who are now going to have to negotiate and pay for their release - which we'll all pay for.

I don't see anything on this thread saying it's acceptable just that knowing this is how the regime operates and there's limited UK support there, travelling as a tourist was unwise and risky.

I agree - there's an article in the Times today too.

Stupid, stupid decision, FO advisory service is there for a reason. They reside in Spain these days. The British taxpayer will still be footing the bill to extract them.

idiots. Particularly pairing as they went along - if they absolutely HAD to go through Iran for whatever reason they thought a good one then they should have done it as quickly and quietly as possible. Not posted what they were doing X where they were going m, the lovely people they met etc until they were well out of the country.
They clearly underestimate the power of the British government to get them out if this mess.

So, there are stunning buildings. Some of the mosques I visited were beautiful. The bazaars were really nice. So much crafted items, very cheap. I loved the mountains in the North. So many historic sites. Loved the food and tea. Loved going to the tea tents by the river. You sit on a raised area, enclosed, covered in carpets and cushions and they bring you food and tea and dates. Very good if you are there as a family and want privacy. You can sit at tables in the gardens, if you prefer.
You need to get used to sit and sleep on the floor, with cushions. And the asian toilets. It is ok if you are young!
You have to wear a scarf and long clothing, like abayas. There are very nice ones indeed. The material is rather thin, so the hot weather is not unsuffereable. All the scarves I took from UK were far too thick and horrible there.
But, you have to cover at all times when outdoors, even if bathing in the sea. If you do not know the language and writting, it is impossible to do anything there. You depend on your guide for everything!
Families are welcoming. With some, you take your abaya and scarf off in the house. Others is like being a nun and do not speak, please. I did not like that. I would not live there for all the gold in the world if I am not allowed to be my own person. With some visitors, either we or the men had to stay inside a room while they were there, depending on their sex. Others were much like UK inside the house and they were jokey and engaging. Same person will act differently, depending on how pious or radical the other is. It is not nice, I think they lose a sense of who they really are.
If they just were allowed freedom, I think they are ready and will be like Dubai in no time. Muslim country, but with a free modern spirit.

Utterly stupid people, and women who take their hard won rights for granted, particularly erk me.

These idiots have a go fund me set up so that people help them travel, not use their own money to pay for it. Don't they have any money of their own. Surely they earn something with the grand titles. Or is it one big scrouge fest.

Next it will be a go.fund me to get out of jail.

Excellent point I hadn't considered.

I did read it was the beginning of January they were arrested? So 5/6 weeks ago?

No one should be arrested due to their citizenship

We're talking about Iran here, normal rules won't apply.....

seems a rooky error that the government/family/companies haven’t promptly sorted taking down their social media feeds before the story broke.

I'm not sure how that would work. I'm going to guess that when the Iranian police arrest you, it's not like on American TV crime shows, you don't get to make a phone call to your Mum or your lawyer. They will have just disappeared from the grid from one moment to the next (and their friends and family will have been worried sick since then). Quite possibly the first that anybody knew was when someone from the police finally let the UK consulate know, and that might not have been until a couple of days ago.

As well as their personal Facebook pages they have one for their trip here: https://www.facebook.com/PPK2K — the posts stop on 3 January. I suppose we won't know if anyone other than the couple has the keys to the page unless someone starts taking down the unhelpful comments.

Their posts are now being reported on worldwide, which surely can’t be helping diplomacy.

I don't know — it's not as if they were slagging off the country or the regime; quite the reverse by all accounts. In fact it might help with their defence a bit, to show that they are just a bit naive. Their first job is to convince the more paranoid people in the Iranian regime that they are not actually spies, which won't get them freed, but at least it will move them from the "possible candidates for execution" list to the "hostage pool" list.

It's guidance - but it's very serious guidance that if ignored, could lead to serious consequences.

Are foreign nationals held in a different place to general prisons in Iran?

Apparently not: https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1886987/Nazanin-Zaghari-Ratcliffe-iran-jail-horrors-survived 😳

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has, since its early years and the Iran hostage crisis, engaged in repeated dubious detention of foreign or dual nationals.[1] This occurred for extended period, with long documented history of using the detained party as a bargaining chip in diplomatic negotiations.[2]"

@RetroTotty no

According to French ex-hostage Louis Arnaud, who spent two years in Iranian custody, those detained are usually kept in solitary confinement. In an interview, he said that "Everything is done so that you are deprived of your humanity".[4]

Thanks! so they'll be held separately in men's and women's prisons. Oh dear.

@ImmediateReaction presumably in solitary so they can't corrupt Iranian prisoners with tales of life in the west too? Or simply as you say, to dehumanise them.

As someone said earlier up thread they set up a go fund me to fund their trip!! Who does that …tossers.

they’ve been incredibly naive and gone again Foreign Office advice …so don’t have a lot of sympathy…they didn’t go to visit family etc

I just read on one of Lindsay Foreman's Instagram posts. Her interviews with people all over the world asking the question, 'what makes a good life' are all on video.

I can't imagine the Iranian regime would be very happy to let video of it's citizens speaking to a camera (at the behest of a random Western woman) out of the country without their knowledge. Especially when the intention is to screen them at a worldwide conference in Brisbane! Just what were they thinking?

I would say the opposite. A lot of people think its a hot barren hell hole. That is very oppressive.
Maybe that's just people I know.