The son of a British couple who have been detained in Iran on espionage charges has accused the UK government of failing to do enough to secure their release.
Craig and Lindsay Foreman were arrested and incarcerated in Kerman in January while undertaking a motorcycle tour around the world.
The couple, from East Sussex, have denied the spying allegations.
Speaking to Sky News, their son Joe Bennett said there were too many similarities with British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case, after she was incarcerated by the regime between 2016 and 2022.
“They themselves are being very passive,” he said of the UK government.
“They’ve got two UK citizens that are accused of spying for the British state, but they’re not coming out and defending them and calling [it out] for what it is.
“You need to stand up for your citizens and call it out.”
He dismissed Iran’s accusation that his mother and her partner had been partaking in espionage and accused the regime of “hostage-taking”.
“If they’re on charges of shoplifting, potentially that’s understandable, let’s see the court of law, let’s go through it if they’ve been caught of some wrongdoing,” he said.
“They haven’t, and they’ve been accused of espionage, which is state-level political charges, right?
“They’re not spies, it’s quite simple.”
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard is also supporting Mr Bennett’s case.
He told Sky News: “It does feel to me that I’m hearing too many echoes of our experience in the experience of Joe’s family and others.”
In October, Mr Bennett said he had spoken to his mother for the second time since she was detained, after she was permitted a 20-minute call from prison.
