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.

This. ^ Not a shred of compassion from me. They were warned over and over to not go to Iran, and they did. They were warned over and over to not do what they planned to do. But they still did it. They deserve anything they get from now on.

I save my compassion for people who deserve it.

*other places in the world

From Yahoo News. They just come across as so naff! 😆

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/craig-lindsay-foreman-iran-british-couple-espionage-spying-165749710.html

James Hockaday
Updated Tue 18 February 2025 at 12:06 pm GMT·5-min read

Craig and Lindsay Foreman, who have been detained in Iran. (PA/Family handout) (Family Handout/PA Wire)

A married British couple detained in Iran during a round-the-world motorcycle trip have been charged with espionage, the country's judiciary news agency has said. Craig and Lindsay Foreman were reportedly held in January, but the country’s state-run media only revealed last week they had been accused of security-related offences.

On Tuesday, Iran's Mizan news agency said they had been charged after collecting information in different locations in the country. The Foreign Office advises on its website against all travel to Iran and warns of the risk of travellers being detained.

On Saturday the couple's family said their situation was causing "significant concern" and are determined to secure their "safe return".

What we know

Craig and Lindsay Foreman, both in their early 50s, were on a motorcycle journey around the world and were ultimately heading for Australia before their arrest. The married couple crossed into Iran from Armenia on 30 December, according to social media posts. Mrs Foreman was said to be carrying out a research project as part of the journey, asking people what constitutes a "good life". She was due to present her findings at a conference on positive psychology in Brisbane in July, the BBC reported.

The couple had shared regular social media updates from the Middle Eastern country, writing in a Facebook post on 3 January that they were having "the most amazing time" there. Mrs Foreman acknowledged that travelling to Iran
against Foreign Office advice was "slightly scary".

"Yes, we're aware of the risks. But we also know the rewards of meeting incredible people, hearing their stories, and seeing the breathtaking landscapes of these regions could far outweigh the fear," she said. "From the vast deserts of Iran to the towering peaks of Pakistan, we hope to share the beauty, hospitality, and humanity that often go unnoticed."

In other posts, the couple said they had been "overwhelmed by the sense of connection" in Iran, while another picture claimed to show Mrs Foreman with a "kind-hearted mullah" at the Madrasa Naseriyeh in Isfahan. "Despite our differences in background, language, and belief, this gesture said everything: I see you. I honour you. We are connected," the caption read.

If you don’t know the statistics, it’s not worth posting is it?

You presume a lot more idiots than 16 though?

It’s unfortunate 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Wiki says 16 But I could have less one or one more.

*counted🙄

You rely on Wiki 🤦‍♀️

It does come over as really naff. I feel for their families having to worry over them. Very entitled self centered individuals.

Not the best. But it was the only thing I could find at short notice. It has people by name and year incarcerated.

Yes, we're aware of the risks.

So they made a risk assessment. They didn't go in thinking it couldn't happen to them.

But we also know the rewards of meeting incredible people, hearing their stories, and seeing the breathtaking landscapes of these regions could far outweigh the fear," she said. "From the vast deserts of Iran to the towering peaks of Pakistan, we hope to share the beauty, hospitality, and humanity that often go unnoticed."

In other posts, the couple said they had been "overwhelmed by the sense of connection" in Iran, while another picture claimed to show Mrs Foreman with a "kind-hearted mullah" at the Madrasa Naseriyeh in Isfahan. "Despite our differences in background, language, and belief, this gesture said everything: I see you. I honour you. We are connected," the caption read

It does sound interesting. It would have been great research had they not been detained.

Honestly, you sound as naïve and as frankly (putting it kindly) as innocent as they do. Let's put it in a clear sentence. If they were aware of the risks- beyond being enthralled by their own hubris- then they simply would not have done it.

And do you have anything to say about the risks they have brought to Iranian nationals? Are you not - quite simply- embarrassed at defending them? I would be.

So compassion for Western tourists who fall foul of the authorities but no compassion for the actual people who suffer under these regimes? Interesting.

Despite our differences in background, language, and belief, this gesture said everything: I see you. I honour you. We are connected," the caption read

Oh what a shower of self aggrandising twaddle. I suspect the 'kind hearted mullah' was desperate for them to bugger off, but was too polite to say so. He will now be dreading the knock on the door from the Iranian police.

Through their conceit these middle class morons have endangered the lives of every Iranian they have 'connected' with.

To be fair, people do many things that are potentially dangerous and they are aware of the risks - but people still do things.

Most of the time, those risks don't result in horrendous outcomes.
But in this case, it did. And who would want the outcome they are in at the moment?

How did you get that from that statement?

Not mentioning compassion is not the same as having no compassion.

The whole world already knew about the dreadful plight of Afghani women and girls. Your woman's naff vanity project would have made bugger all difference.

They completely failed to understand the folly of interviewing local people and posting the results on line.

Going to the country discreetly and not drawing attention to themselves would have been risky.

What they actually did was absolute lunacy, and almost guaranteed to end up with a charge of spying.

I don’t think they deserve to rot in an Iranian jail, but the decision making here beggars belief

The comparison with those who undertake dangerous sports is a fallacy. Those people tend to spend huge amounts of time mitigating risk

People know the risks of travelling without insurance - then want a go fund me to pay thousands of £££s medical bills.

Unforeseen risk is completely different to foreseen risk.

If you go skiing for example it's a risk.

It's safer if you stay on carved out runs.

If you go off piste especially where avalanches are warned to be likely you can't act too surprised if you get caught in an avalanche. You can count yourself lucky if you weren't.

And if you didn't pay the extra insurance for extreme sports then you can't be surprised you get landed with a a huge evacuation flights bill for being rescued off a mountain as you've been caught in said avalanche.

Same as travel to unsafe countries.

You take a risk. You decide if the risk is worth it to you.

For this couple the risk of imprisonment was obviously worth it.

That's their choice.

But don't act the innocent party because you played with fire and got burned and don't blame those lucky enough not to have got burned before you did.

And they won't get billed for the costs to Britain to deal with this. The costa to them personally is the consequences for their choice of actions.

As someone unthread so eloquently put

Play stupid games .......

That is a bad faith argument there.

As I said tourism by it's nature often brings positive benefits to a country, both to the people who may never get to see an example of another way of living and to those with either a preconceived view of people in those countries, it can be a two-way educational experience that changes lives and perspectives. Travelling is almost aways educational. You can argue whether complete isolationism or tourism is good for any country.

I am imagining that that couple, they are British, they are one of our own, locked in a cell - I don't know what the conditions are like, but I imagine they are not great. Being possibly interrogated, possibly not getting to speak to their families, not speaking the language, scared, anxious, maybe hungry or cold. And I cannot imagine myself thinking about that and then running to internet to say how stupid they are and crowing about how little compassion I have.

And in any case I really do not believe it. I think it is just the expected internet talk these days.

I have compassion for them for the situation they are in. That's human nature.

But that doesn't mitigate the fact they themselves out themselves i that situation and are idiots for doing so 🤷‍♀️

They would have been likely tracked/noted since getting that visa. The gov was probably sitting rubbing their hands with glee at some more people to take hostage and get some more money or whatever they’ll come up with. Having a visa doesn’t stop you being arrested or jailed.

This. I don't think they have been arrested because of anything specific that they did; they will have been earmarked for the hostage pile the day they arrived at the border. The Iranian police were probably laughing their heads off knowing that they were going to pick them up once their visits to multiple cities had established a (paper-thin, of course) set of evidence of "spying".

I'm one of the Brits who went to Iran. Eight years ago.
But the last few months in particular have seen an exponential increase in the risk of going there, and Brits and Americans in particular are NOT going now. The FCO advice is very different from when I went.

I consider myself an intrepid traveller and I've been to quite a few difficult countries, travelling alone and independently. Iran was my favourite of them all, but I wouldn't go now, and nor are any of the tour companies.

Quoting the number of detentions from 1980 to 2023 is entirely irrelevant to what's been happening in Iran over the last six months, and the risk now.

You're just too kind hearted.
I'm someone who you think doesn't exist. I think about them being incarcerated and I still have no sympathy whatsoever because they completely brought it upon themselves. It's completely different to climbing a dangerous mountain etc because in those circumstances there isn't official government advice telling you not to do it. Obviously if someone decided to climb against all weather forecasts and advice from other experienced climbers and got injured or killed I wouldn't have any sympathy for them either.
I have sympathy for this moronic couple's family who by all accounts told them not to do it, but none at all for the two individuals, and I'd say that to their face.
It's the height of idiocy and selfishness to waft around thinking that because you're a hippy dippy loony that somehow FCO advice doesn't apply to you.