Iran Adds Two Years to British Prisoner's Sentence After He Spoke to the Press From Evin Prison

Craig Foreman thought he was being taken to see his lawyer. Instead, according to his family, he was brought before a judge in Tehran and told his prison sentence just got two years longer.

His crime this time: talking to the press from inside Evin prison.

Foreman, 53, and his wife Lindsay, also 53, were arrested in January 2025 while riding motorcycles through Iran on a trip from Europe to Australia, according to the BBC. Iranian authorities charged them with espionage. Both have denied it from the start. In February they were each sentenced to 10 years, a punishment Britain's Foreign Office has called "totally unjustifiable," according to Reuters reporting carried by Global Banking & Finance Review.

Now Craig Foreman's sentence stands at 12 years, based on family accounts of what happened in that courtroom.

Joe Bennett, Lindsay Foreman's son and the family's spokesman, said his stepfather was denied any due process most people would consider basic. "We understand he was told he was being taken to see his lawyer but was instead brought before a judge and informed of the additional sentence," Bennett said, according to the BBC. "Despite requests, he was allowed no lawyer, no translator and no opportunity to defend himself."

Bennett didn't mince words about the family's reaction. "We didn't think we could be any more shocked at their appalling treatment, but in this case we are absolutely flabbergasted," he said.

A hunger strike now in its third month

This isn't a fresh crisis on top of a calm situation. The Foremans have been on hunger strike since May, after prison authorities blocked them from calling their families. By the time this new sentence came down, Craig Foreman had gone without food for roughly 68 days and Lindsay Foreman for 59, according to The Independent.

HRANA, a US-based human rights monitoring group, reported last week that Craig Foreman had lost about 16 kilograms, roughly 35 pounds, and that Lindsay Foreman was experiencing dizziness and body tremors. The family says a letter urging the couple to end their strike never reached them, and neither did medication or basic supplies.

Prolonged starvation depletes fat reserves and then begins consuming muscle tissue, including heart muscle, and can cause irreversible organ and brain damage. Two months without solid food, sustained on water with a little milk and honey, is the kind of thing that kills people.

The UN has already weighed in

Last month, UN special rapporteurs Alice Edwards and Mai Sato called on Iran to release the couple outright. "Lindsay and Craig Foreman should not be in prison," they said, according to the BBC. "They appear to have been wrongfully detained, prosecuted on highly questionable grounds, and sentenced after proceedings that failed to meet basic fair trial guarantees."

The UN experts' findings are an assessment, not a court ruling, and Iran has not responded publicly to their statement in the material available. But the pattern of arrest on vague grounds, no functioning defense, and secret sentencing add-ons is exactly the kind of process critics say makes it nearly impossible for a detained foreigner to get a fair hearing in Iran's system.

The British government's position is that its citizens can be detained in Iran simply for holding a UK passport or having British connections. The Foreign Office has advised against all travel to Iran since 2022 for that reason. A spokesperson said the department was "urgently following up with the Iranian authorities about the reported increased sentence," according to Reuters.

What Iran hasn't said

None of the four accounts reviewed here include a direct comment from the Iranian judiciary or foreign ministry confirming the two-year addition, the reasoning behind it, or a response to the UN rapporteurs' findings. Everything about the extra sentence, including the claim that Foreman was misled about being taken to his lawyer, comes from the family's account relayed through Bennett. That doesn't make it false. Iran's judiciary has a well-documented history of opaque proceedings against foreign detainees, but the specific courtroom details are currently one-sided because Tehran hasn't put its version on the record in these reports.

One development that predates this week's news but bears on it: Britain named former Middle East minister Alistair Burt as its first envoy dedicated to nationals detained abroad in complex cases, a move the family welcomed, according to Iran International.

Whether that new envoy role or renewed UN pressure does anything to change Tehran's calculus remains to be seen, as two British citizens continue refusing food in Evin prison.