Son of British couple imprisoned in Iran says Government not doing enough to help free them
Lindsay and Craig Foreman have been detained since January
The son of a British couple detained in Iran on espionage charges has accused the Government of not doing enough to secure their release.
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Lindsay and Craig Foreman were seized in Kerman in January while on a round-the-word motorbike trip before being imprisoned at the notorious Evin prison.
The couple, of East Sussex, were later charged with espionage which they both deny.
In August, they were moved to different jails in Tehran before being reunited at Evin in October.
Last month, Lindsay's son Joe Bennett said he had spoken to his mother for the second time since she was detained, where he described the pair as living a nightmare.
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Giving an update to Sky News, Joe said of the UK Government: "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."
Mr Bennett, whose family met with Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper last month, also dismissed Iran's accusation of espionage against his mother and her partner - and accused the regime of "hostage taking."
Asked whether he had sympathy with the argument that making too much of the situation makes their release less likely, Mr Bennett said there was "no justification" for the Foreign Office taking such an approach.
He added: "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.
"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."
Novi prison is the same facility where Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained from 2016 and 2022.
The British-Iranian national and charity project manager, had been visiting Iran with her daughter when she was arrested. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard accused her of trying to overthrow the state, which she denied.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband Richard is now supporting Mr Bennett's case.
He said: "It does feel to me that I'm hearing too many echoes of our experience in the experience of Joe's family and others."
The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) warns all British and British-Iranian nationals not to travel to Iran because of a "significant risk of arrest, questioning or detention."
A spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary previously said they "were monitored with the cooperation of security agencies and arrested", according to the Mizan news agency.
Mr and Mrs Foreman embarked on their travels last October from their remote villa in Spain and were due to conclude their trip in Australia in July.