THE British government was blasted today for doing nothing to halt the outrageous jailing of a British couple in an Iranian hellhole prison.
Lindsay and Craig Foreman were snatched as they passed through the rogue state on a world motorcycling trip 13 months ago and jailed for 10 years today for spying.
But Keir Starmer’s government has never declared clearly that the couple are not spies and that the charges are trumped up and preposterous.
And the Foreign office was facing a backlash today as the innocent couple faced a decade in among rats and violent cut-throats in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.
Tory Shadow National Security Minister Alicia Kearns said: “The Iranian government are responsible solely for them being taken hostage but the British government should have done more to get them home earlier.
“They should be saying, very clearly, that the Foremans are not spies.
“But they are not willing to say that the Foremans are not spies and that is dangerous and wrong – they need to learn from previous cases.
“They need to have got them home before it got to trial and before it got to sentencing.”
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called the sentence “completely appalling and totally unjustifiable” today.
The couple, both 53 from east Sussex were not allowed to present a defence and no evidence was presented against them at a three-hour hearing in at a revolutionary court in Tehran
Linday’s son Joe Bennett said his family “are deeply concerned about their welfare” and called on the British government to “act decisively and use every available avenue”.
The couple are being kept separately in filthy eight-foot-square cells surrounded by “dirt, vermin, and violence” and were losing weight, their family said.
They have spent 400 days languishing in a hellhole prison awaiting their fate.
Evin prison is notorious for shackling political prisoners, journalists and even Brits on bogus charges.
Reports on the horrific conditions inside have come from those who have managed to make it out.
Marziyeh Amirizadeh, 43, spent 259 days in Evin and says she was treated like an animal and her food was full of flies most days.
The Foremans were allowed to appear before a hearing, which lasted three hours, at the Islamic Revolutionary Court in October.
But they were not allowed to make any defence.
Joe also revealed the pair’s requests for bail have constantly been ignored.
Last month, renewed fears over the couple’s safety were made by the family amid the deadly crackdown on protesters in Iran.
The Iranian regime has killed at least 3,428 protesters amid the brutal crackdown, human rights groups claim.
Joe said: “My mum and Craig are two innocent UK citizens that are caught up in the middle of all of this.
“So for us, it’s about their safety and prompt return home however that comes.”
The UK Foreign Office has been advising against all travel to Iran for British citizens as tourists could be unlawfully detained.
Human rights groups say the regime tries to hold prisoners from foreign nations to use as leverage in diplomatic negotiations.
