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.

I have been to Syria twice (before the war) and this was not my experience at all. Unless it were the most covert and sophisticated world class surveillance

Maybe depends how long ago it was and how you traveled etc. people can have different experiences. And rules change.
many foreign backpackers travelled happily through Iran in the 1970ies.

Another naive pair here, but the circumstances are very different. This could have a very sad outcome.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0rznw4j2e4o

Gosh that is worrying, I wouldn't have stayed though if I were them I have to say

After 18 years living in Afghanistan I'm pretty sure the last thing they were is naive. I think they were trying desperately not to abandon the people they had been helping for so long as the work they did was desperately needed. Braver than I would be.

No, me neither. They sound like very admirable people and I assume they were aware and resigned to the fact that this would one day happen.

Just caught up on this. It sounds as though this couple were exceptionally honourable, but I do fear the worst outcome here. The Taliban’s MO is basically the same as Iran’s - imprisonment as the start of (effectively) hostage negotiations with foreign governments.

I appreciate that the couple in Afghanistan have been there a long time doing what they do but it’s pretty stupid carrying on doing it with the Taliban in charge of, it really was just a matter of time before they got arrested . I’m not sure this country can keep affording to buy back individuals who decide , knowingly to put themselves in this position .

I read that the couple told relatives that they would rather die than be "bartered" between governments if arrested. I'm just not sure that you get to opt out of diplomatic protection like that! It's clear that they were adored by their employees and wholly devoted to the country. They even got married in Kabul. :(

@Vinvertebrate I would guess they see themselves as Afghans or honourary ones. They obviously love the country hugely and have tried to help it's women at massive personal risk. By the sound of things they are well aware of their potential fate and resigned to it. Brave souls.

There's no suggestion of the UK government "buying them back".

But that is what usually happens they get extra aid or whatever , it’s not phrased as ‘buying release ‘ but is what it is in reality . The Taliban have apparently said they want to release them quickly - well what are they waiting for then , just release them if they don’t want anything in return .

Oh I wouldn’t see the Afghanistan couple in the same light at all. They had adopted the country as their own. They were citizens as well.

if there were more people like this in the world, it would definitely be a better place.

This poor couple are still held. They did so much for Afgans yet the Teleban still took them. Evil terrorists.

Update here for the couple held in Afghanistan

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gd5epdlxno

An update on this:

After initially asking for minimal social media coverage, Craig and Lindsay's families have decided to go public. They have set up a website www.freelindsayandcraig.com with links to a petition for signature. There is no "GoFundMe" or other begging for money.

(And please, no more hating. Was this trip ill-advised? Certainly. Do they deserve to spend the next five years rotting in an Iranian jail? Well, you might think so, but then I hope nobody in your family ever does something silly.)

I was wondering how they were with the bombing and imagined things were pretty horrific.

You are right- they might have been catastrophically smug and stupid- but they don't deserve to be rotting in an Iranian jail.

The BBC has picked up on it: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp867vdxe70o

Hopefully we will hear from the FCDO at some point. There may not be a lot that they can do immediately, but I think it's important that the couple are not forgotten among all the other diplomatic manoeuvring that goes on.

I did think of them with consternation during the bombing.

I hope the FCDO can at least ensure continued welfare checks and press for humane conditions because in reality the situation has got worse for them since they were taken.

It must have been terrifying for them. Reading between the lines, it sounds as though the family wants the FO to pony up some cash to secure their release, and the FO is only offering diplomacy (which won’t wash, because they were obviously only arrested for leverage in the first place). I don’t feel comfortable about giving money in return for prisoners when the recipient is a pariah state with apparent nuclear ambitions either. Why impose economic sanctions if the regime we are targeted can just extract a massive ransom?

It’s a mess.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released for £400 million, but it was money that the UK actually owed Iran because the Shah had paid up front for some tanks that the UK never delivered. I can't see HMG paying "new money" for their release, it would set a terrible precedent.

Those bloody tanks are always a fig leaf for hostage payments, unfortunately. The UK definitely defaulted on its side of the tank deal, and there is a judgment in Iran’s favour, but the UK position (not entirely unreasonably) is not to hand over any money to the military wing of the current loons in power when we’ve sanctioned them for trade purposes. So the regime tries to convince us otherwise by grabbing passing Brits to use as collateral. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don’t accept that the risk for UK passport holders traveling to Iran would ever be zero, but the current stand-off almost encourages spurious detention.

They have been able to call home, which will hopefully have raised morale with the family.

Item on Sky news webpage today saying that Craig Foreman has now been moved to the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran...
https://news.sky.com/story/family-seriously-worried-for-parents-detained-in-irans-harshest-prison-13414644

I've just seen this on the news. I can't summon up much sympathy for the pair of idiots. Just why did they do this.

I think they have been very naive and wanted to prove that Iran is not the scary dangerous place portrayed in Western media. Well they fucked about and found out . I feel so sorry for their loved ones who now have to try and mop up this mess . The stress and worry must be awful .