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.

Iran is definitely high on the list of places I want to go to but not now or for the forseeable future.

Crazy couple.

I’m suprised they weren’t there already. It seems to be where they keep all the political prisoners. I’m sure I’ve read its nick named Evin university. I’m not sure their other prisons are any better!!

Here’s my tiny violin. I don’t wish them any harm but have no sympathy for them and begrudge my taxes being spent on sorting their stupid mess out.

Glad to find another person who can feel some sympathy for this couple. They would have been happy getting along all right on their travels and not understood that Iran is a little different.
I sincerely hope that they come out of this soon and that they are well.

I saw on the son's Insta page yesterday that they have both been back in court (which I suppose at least would have given them a chance to see each other as they are being held in different prisons) and that they were led away in shackles.

I think this may be a very long stretch for them!

That is awful. I feel incredibly sorry for them.

I understand that previous Brits were held as Iran felt money was owed to them by the British government. What is the bargaining chip for this couple?

I think the hope is that there might be a 'prisoner exchange'

I see😬

Unlikely to be free any time soon then

Iran still feels money is owed (and the ICJ agrees, I seem to recall!)

Previous UK prisoners resulted in down-payments.

Thanks for explaining!

So I'm a bit confused as I thought the government paid their debt in securing Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe's freedom. I thought £400,000 000 or there abouts had been paid.

If it wasn't fully settled then yes, again I think this couple will be waiting a very long time for release as the government won't want to be seen as legitimising this form of.. prisoner extortion. (athough if it's owed, it's owed)

The actual amount is disputed. As I understand it, the shah ordered and paid in advance for 1500 tanks (plus some other military stuff) from a shady MoD-related arms company called IMS. We dutifully started manufacturing the tanks, then the Islamic revolution happened and we decided not to hand over a load of military hardware to the hardline nutters who wanted to eliminate the West, Israel, etc. 🤷‍♀️

Iran has been pissed off ever since. There was a court case in the early 90’s and it resulted in about £300 million being paid into court by the UK to meet its liability. Iran couldn’t actually get its hands on that money, so remained pissed off.

Nazanin’s “ransom” of £400m was probably considered an end to the matter from the UK gov’s perspective, but apparently not for Iran. If you can extract money from a country by holding citizens to ransom and you are a bunch of terrorist nut jobs anyway, why wouldn’t you?

fwiw DH is dual nationality UK and Iranian and he won’t set foot in Iran these days. Way too dangerous in his view (although people still do it ofc).

I appreciate your perspective!

This is why the UK government has had a stance of not paying ransom for UK citizen captives abroad. Once you do it a few times, it becomes a successful means of extorting more and more funds and ultimately places citizens at increased risk.

Thanks for the in-depth information.

For anyone still following this - according to son's Instagram account, both Lindsay & Craig Foreman are now being held in Evin prison in Tehran. They are being held separately.
They are both also now on hunger strike according to Lindsay's son and also this BBC news article:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpv1w2nkggdo

I can't imagine months of this. Poor things.

I've still been loosely following this and yesterday saw that ITV had an 'exclusive' telephone interview from Evin prison with Lindsey Foreman.

I understand that they and the family probably want any publicity they can get in the UK so they aren't forgotten. But surely this was a bad idea!? Doesn't this just play into the Iranian regime's hands as they are on 'spying' charges? In the interview she talks about political prisoners being held with her after the latest demonstrations in Tehran and some sentenced to death. It seems very naive, if not down right foolhardy to talk about this from Iranian prison to western news outlets!

www.itv.com/news/2026-02-12/british-mum-lindsay-foreman-speaks-out-from-irans-notorious-evin-prison

I mean they're probably desperate and they're sort of in a 'damned if you do and damned if don't' scenario.

I really feel for them. Spuriously separating a married couple is cruel. But that said, I'm surprised they're allowed to see each other at all.

Lindsay said she is able to see her husband Craig, who is also detained in Evin prison, but described the meetings as "psychological torture".
"So for example, we were promised three meetings a month, which can range between, I think the [shortest] has been about 45 minutes ... and the longest I think we've had is about, you know, just over two hours."
"On more than one occasion, they cancel it at the last minute. And that is the most soul-destroying thing."

When they were first arrested, the family decided not to make a fuss "in case that made the Iranians angry", but after a while they realised that the Iranians didn't care very much about what anyone is saying, and as a result the only people being let off the hook were the Foreign Office. So they went into full publicity mode.

Similarly, I think Lindsay and Craig have probably decided that the IRGC has a plan for their future, and while that plan may depend on what the UK government does, it doesn't depend very much on what they personally do. When you've being charged with spying for Israel, adding on "And daring to mention that people are being arrested for protesting against us" probably doesn't seem like something to worry about too much.

Sorry but I don't. Who in their right mind goes on a motorbike trip through Iran? A country with a long history of detaining westerners, a state sponsored hated of the UK and a government who do not hesitate to imprison people. It's bloody arrogant and stupid and they are reaping the rewards for their actions.

I think they are idiots, but want to see them released ASAP. I feel very sorry for their adult children- they didn't ask for any of this.

If and when they do get out, I will be annoyed if I see them all over TV shows and using this to promote themselves.

They need to be dignified after all this trouble their actions have caused.

I agree, they are a pair of fools. If they are freed they should be embarrassed by their idiocy and stay well out of the limelight. I have very little sympathy for them.

It is exceptionally foolish and perhaps that’s the reason there seems to be less diplomatic pressure relative to Nazanin Ratcliffe. She was a dual national, visiting family - whereas this couple had no legitimate reason to go. At best, they were naive and reckless, and the entire situation was avoidable.

I do wonder about this. Their motorbike tour was 'research' asking people in the countries they travelled through, ' What makes a good life?' with a view to displaying their findings at a conference in Australia.

Lindsey Foreman worked in 'wellbeing' and essentially life coaching as far as I can see. She did a doctorate to that effect. In this interview she talks about setting up a wall in the prison full of positive quotes to help motivate the women with her. It sounds as well as trying to keep herself positive she wants to use her techniques as far as possible in Evin as well and I can't help feeling she will want to 'use' this experience once released.

I think they were shockingly naive fools.

But i hope so much they are home soon.

A fair number of people travel and have been travelling to Iran, including Americans. There are lots of videos on YT about people's trips.

It's sort of been a thing that if you take all the right precautions and travel with a guide - this is a very strict requirement - then it's relatively safe.

So I can see a hippy free living type of couple deciding it will be fine provided we do xyz. But I don't know if the specific route they were traveling and taking pics etc were risky.

But it's a bit unfair to put it all on them. The Iranian government well knows they're not spies. It's all a game

I would definitely use it if freed. Why not?

Years of their lives both separately and as a married couple are going down the drain.

Make the most of an otherwise awful situation. I admire her ability to do anything positive. If it were me I'd be an absolute mess.