Lindsay and Craig Foreman have embarked on a desperate last resort hunger strike whilst detained in an Iranian prison – accused of espionage.
Craig is in his third week of the hunger strike, a deadly phase that can see permanent damage and organ failure take place, whilst Lindsay is on the 11th day of her own strike. The Mirror can reveal that prison guards are alleged to have played a cruel trick on psychologist Lindsay in an attempt to dissuade her from the starvation protest, which is why she is running a few days behind her husband.
The couple from East Sussex were arrested whilst travelling through Iran in January 2025, and have been detained for more than 500 days, with the UK government saying publicly they are “innocent tourists”. After enduring hellish conditions in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, the couple have gone on hunger strike. The Foreign Offices advices against travel to Iran because the country has been repeatedly accused of holding foreign citizens or dual nationals as hostages, hoping to use them as bargaining chips on the international stage.
“We are not very valuable as hostages if we’re dead, so they’d better open up a channel,” Lindsay said in one of her last conversations with son Joe Bennett, 32, before her and her husband’s phone cards were taken away by prison authorities. The couple’s ability to communicate with their loved ones is understood to have been taken away as punishment for conducting an interview with the BBC in early May, which saw them lay bare the horror conditions inside Evin, including terrifying claims about prisoners being taken from their cells under the false promise of seeing their family, only to be executed.
View 5 ImagesThe pair were taken into custody in January during a motorcycle tour around the world and were later charged with espionage(Image: PA)
The couple, both 53, have been unable to speak with their family since. They might be held in solitary confinement, but because of the lack of communication, this has not been confirmed. Craig, a carpenter, and Lindsay started their hunger strikes at the same time, but Joe tells the Mirror that prison authorities went to great lengths to try and stop Lindsay.
“One of the cruellest aspects of this situation is that Lindsay and Craig have often been prevented from seeing or communicating with one another, so neither fully knew what the other was doing. Our understanding is that Lindsay initially began a hunger strike around the same time as Craig, but prison authorities persuaded her to stop,” Joe, who gave up his job to campaign for his mum and step-dad’s release full time, claims to the Mirror.
“They reportedly showed her a letter they claimed was from Craig saying he was not on hunger strike and asking her not to continue. She only saw it briefly before it was taken away. A few days later she discovered that Craig had in fact been on hunger strike the entire time and realised she had been misled.
“That understandably left her feeling deeply hurt and betrayed again by the system around her, and from that point she became even more determined to continue.”
View 5 ImagesThe two are being kept in separate parts of the infamous prison(Image: PA)
Joe tells us that it was heartbreaking to hear his mum’s words that her value as a hostage only remained as long as she was alive. “It was devastating to hear. As a son, hearing your mum speak in those terms is something that stays with you. But at the same time, I understand where that feeling comes from. They feel abandoned, isolated and unheard. They’ve spent well over a year trying to endure this with patience and dignity, and from their perspective they’ve reached the point where they feel they have nothing left to lose.
“That’s the reality of arbitrary detention. It strips people down psychologically as much as physically. Nobody wants this situation, least of all the family, but I also understand why they feel driven to such desperate measures.”
Discussing the conditions in Evin Prison that the couple are enduring, Joe claims: “It’s horrific. There’s no other word for it really. They’ve described witnessing executions, violent punishments and an environment built around fear and intimidation. As a family, it’s deeply traumatising to know that these are the conditions they are living in every day.
View 5 ImagesJoe has been fighting for the release of his parents since their arrest in January 2025(Image: PA)
“You try to stay strong publicly because you have to keep campaigning and pushing forward, but privately it takes a huge emotional toll. Every phone call, every silence, every piece of news carries anxiety with it because you know the environment they’re trapped in.”
Joe and his brother Toby Rutland, 19, and his step-siblings Kieran and Chelsea Foreman, 28 and 30, recently visited 10 Downing Street to hand over a petition regarding their parent’s release, which had gathered more than 84,000 signatures. “The main purpose of the visit was to hand in the petition and demonstrate publicly that there is significant support behind Lindsay and Craig. We weren’t given the opportunity to sit down with the Prime Minister directly, but obviously that’s something we would welcome.
“At this stage, what we need is high level political engagement and a shift towards actively exploring pathways that can bring them home. Ultimately these cases are resolved politically and diplomatically, and we believe now is the time for that level of focus and urgency.”
View 5 ImagesLindsay and Craig’s children went to Downing Street to hand in a petition to secure the couple’s release(Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
The Mirror understands that the British embassy in Iran is raising the issue of Lindsay and Craig’s phone cards with the Iranian authorities and working to get them reinstated. A spokesperson for the FCDO says: “Since Lindsay and Craig’s arrest last year, Britain’s Ambassador to Tehran, diplomats and officials in London have been working to provide consular assistance. This includes the ambassador visiting them in prison and facilitating calls with their family back in the UK.
“Minister Falconer last met the family on 18 May and the Foreign Secretary on 17 March. Both set out to them personally how unjustified and appalling we consider Lindsay and Craig’s incarceration to be, and the action that the UK Government is taking to try and secure their release.
“We will continue working to ensure that Craig and Lindsay are returned safely to the UK.”
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