British couple held in Tehran prison caught in US-Iran war crossfire as bombs shatter windows
A British couple detained in Tehran said bombs exploded next to their prison, breaking windows and causing plaster to rain down from the ceiling.
Lindsay and Craig Foreman, from East Sussex, were jailed for 10 years last month on controversial espionage charges after they were arrested while traveling in Iran on a global motorcycle tour in January 2025.
Now, while we were experiencing the Israeli-US bombardment of Iran, they told how a bomb exploded near Evin Prison last Saturday afternoon.
Campaigners said the sudden explosion shook the facility so hard that plaster fell from the ceiling onto prisoners in Mr Foreman’s cell.
Ms. Foreman, who was on the phone with her son at the time, described a scene of mass hysteria as women crawled under bunk beds, waiting for the next attack.
son told Times She described how her mother “screamed when the force of the bomb tore the wings of the prison apart.” He said he could hear “dozens of women screaming” in the background before the line went dead.
The Foremans’ campaigners said the legal process in Iran had “effectively collapsed” since the start of the conflict, leaving their future uncertain as the Foreign Office worked to appeal and secure their release.
Family members described a “show trial” last month in which the couple was not allowed to make a defense and saw no evidence of alleged espionage after more than a year of being held in harsh conditions.
Campaigners said the attacks targeted the courts that sentenced the couple and that the couple’s state-appointed lawyer had fled the country. Independent.
The guards the couple had known were gradually replaced by armed police personnel, Mr. Bennett wrote. “They have little real contact with them, but under these circumstances they feel more vulnerable than ever,” he said.
He added that the advice offered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was “standard travel advice for tourists”.
“It’s not very enlightening or reassuring when your parents are trapped in a prison in the middle of a war zone,” he said. “It is shocking that even in this crisis bureaucracy and rearguarding continues. The danger has clearly increased and there are British citizens who appear to have been abandoned and are in real and immediate danger.”
Mr. Bennett will speak at the U.S. Capitol next week at the Transatlantic Conference on Hostage-Taking and Arbitrary Detention as he fights for the release of his parents.
“Neither the prime minister nor the foreign minister responded to our petition to Downing Street earlier this year. My letters to them also remained unanswered,” he said.
“My parents are not spies. They are innocent tourists who were taken hostage. Pretending otherwise does not solve the problem.”
Family built a place petition and a fundraiser to support the campaign.
An FCDO spokesperson said: Independent: “The welfare of British nationals detained in Iran is a priority for this government and remains so in the current situation in the Middle East.
“The safety and security of our citizens, including those detained, remains important, but it is also important to consider changing travel advisories across the region.
“The sentences for Craig and Lindsay are absolutely appalling and completely unjustifiable and we will continue to pursue this case relentlessly against the Iranian regime and will continue to do so until we see Craig and Lindsay Foreman safely returned to the UK and reunited with their families.
“We continue to provide consular assistance to them and their families.”
