"Alone and Hungry: My Heartbreak as My Mom Faces Two Months on Hunger Strike in an Iranian Prison"

DIZZY, weak and suffering from body tremors, British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman have endured more than eighteen months of hell banged up in Iran’s notorious Evin prison.

Accused of spying, the married couple from East Sussex, began a hunger strike in May and now Lindsay’s son Joe Bennett is making an urgent plea that they receive medical attention.

Craig and Lindsay Foreman pose for a selfie before their arrest in Iran Credit: Reuters Joe Bennett with mum Lindsay Foreman, who is in prison in Iran Credit: Supplied

This week their families heard through prison sources that both Lindsay and Craig’s are in a “serious and rapidly deteriorating condition”.

After initially taking sugar and salt with water, they are now existing on water alone and are weak, dizzy and suffering from body tremors.

Lindsay has told inmates inside the prison: “I will continue until I die to make sure everyone sees what is happening here.”

Back in the UK, Lindsay’s son, Joe, is calling on the new government under Prime Minister Andy Burnham to secure urgent consular access and medical care for his mum and stepdad.

“My mum and Craig feel a sense of hopelessness,” he says.

“They believe this is the only way left to make the world listen. They need medical attention urgently.”

Lindsay, a 53-year-old academic and life coach, and Craig, a 52-year-old carpenter, were six weeks into a 10 month round the world motorcycle trip when they entered Iran in January 2025 for a four day pitstop tour.

They were arrested on 3 January, the day before they were planning to leave the country.

On 18 February this year, their families learned they had been sentenced to ten years in prison for espionage, which they deny.

Ten days later, the USA went to war with Iran.

Craig and Lindsay Foreman were enjoying a world tour when they were detained in Iran Credit: Supplied Lindsay Foreman is being held in a cell with up to 20 women in Evin Prison in Tehran Credit: AFP or licensors

On June 24, Craig and Lindsay spent their tenth wedding anniversary in separate wings of Evin Prison, in cells shared with up to 20 other inmates.

Back in the UK, their children, Lindsay’s two sons from her first marriage, Joe and Toby, 20, and Craig’s son, Kieran, 28, and daughter, Chelsea, 31, from his first marriage, feel increasingly frustrated and helpless.

This week their children issued a statement, begging their parents to end the hunger strike.

“We are frightened for you. Every day that passes, we worry more about your health, your strength and the damage this is causing. We need you well. We need you alive.

“We are asking you, from the deepest part of our hearts, to stop the hunger strike and come back to us.”

For a time, the families were permitted to speak to them in prison, but two months ago contact was abruptly halted.

Earlier this month, Joe heard through a prison source that Craig’s sentence has been increased by two years.

“I’m told he was taken into a prison room before a judge, with no lawyer,” says Joe. “At the end of it he was handed an extra two years. That’s all I know.”

Craig and Lindsay Foreman pictured in Iran before their arrest in January 2025 Credit: facebook/PPK2K RTW Motorcycle Mission Craig and Lindsay Foreman were on a round the world motorcycle tour Credit: facebook/PPK2K RTW Motorcycle Mission

Conditions at Evin are dire and whenever the phone rings Joe feels a rising sense of dread.

“Every time you get a call or message, you wonder if you are going to be told something catastrophic,” says Joe, 32. “It’s very tough for us, we never really truly know how they are.”

Before going on hunger strike, Lindsay and Craig were existing on “rice and brown slop”, as inmates describe it.

“Craig started his 77 days ago. My mum is on day 68,” says Joe.

Prison sources say Lindsay has lost just over two stone, while Craig has lost two and a half stone in weight.

Joe maintains that the accusations of spying are simply untrue and the authorities have used innocuous conversations Craig and Lindsay had with locals against them.

Lindsay has an MA and a doctorate in positive psychology, a discipline which focuses on resilience and how to thrive.

She and Craig, who divided their time between Forest Row, in East Sussex and a property in Spain, were in Iran as part of a psychology research project asking people what constitutes a ‘good life’.

Craig and Lindsay Foreman spent their 10th wedding anniversary in prison in Iran Credit: PA Craig Foreman is on hunger strike at Evin Prison in Iran in protest against his sentencing for espionage, which he denies Credit: Family Handout

For Lindsay, it was a subject she was passionate about, having spent years studying it. The couple had already crossed through Europe and were planning to finish their tour in Australia.

In Iran, she and Craig spoke to locals about their lives, says Joe, but the questions were innocuous and nothing of a political nature was discussed.

“They were conducting data gathering information about what it means for people around the world to lead a good life,” says Joe. “They felt so welcomed by the people, they were so hospitable.”

Joe says his mum and stepdad had been granted visas by Iran and were accompanied by a registered guide.

But on 3 January, 2025, the day before they were due to leave Kerman, in the southeast of the country, for the 379 mile journey to the border, they were arrested by the Iranian authorities.

“It seems that they loaded their bikes onto a freight train at Kerman, which was going to Pakistan, and planned to travel to Pakistan by train and collect their bikes,” says Joe.

“We don’t know, but it looks like they were arrested on their way back to their hotel.”

After posting on social media on 3 January, their phones went silent and they seemed to vanish into thin air.

Craig and Lindsay Foreman were having the time of their lives on their travels before their arrest and detention in Iran Credit: Rex Craig and Lindsay Foreman on a canoe adventure before their arrest in Iran. Credit: Channel 4 Credit: Channel 4

The trip of a lifetime had switched in seconds into a terrifying nightmare.
After being separated from one another, they were placed in solitary confinement, blindfolded and interrogated.

On 13 February, Iranian state media announced their arrest on charges of espionage.

Joe found out later that around July, the pair were told they were being released and put on a commercial flight from Kerman to Tehran with little security accompanying them.

But after the plane touched down, instead of being put on a connecting flight to the UK, they were handcuffed again, blindfolded and put into separate cars.

“They were told by multiple guards, this is your release,” says Joe, who lives in Folkestone, Kent. “Their handcuffs were removed after the flight took off, it was a commercial flight, it must have looked so hopeful.

“For a brief moment, they would have allowed themselves to believe it was over.”

In August 2025, Joe spoke to his mum for the first time. “After that we were able to build a steady line of communication set up,” says Joe. It makes the ordeal slightly easier if you’re able to talk to them.

Craig and Lindsay Foreman’s health is deteriorating as they continue their hunger strike in prison Credit: Courtesy of the Family The family of Craig and Lindsay Foreman, who are in prison in in Iran, are calling for their release Credit: Supplied

“It worked both ways, it’s a regular check-in. As horrible as it is to think about, it’s a proof of life. We knew that, on that day at least, they were ok.

Living conditions are harsh. “The toilet is a hole in the ground,” says Joe. I’ve heard there are rats. There are these bright lights that they don’t turn off at night. Some of the inmates don’t sleep through the night.

“But they they tried to stay positive. My mum would manage to do some yoga and run around a courtyard. Craig would do weight training when he felt up to it, using Coke bottles of Coke filled with water and attached to a pole.”

On 28 February this year, when the US launched its war against Iran, Lindsay and Craig’s family were horrified.

Then, two months ago, the families were told there would be no more communication.

“We were told contact was cut off because they had spoken to the press,” says Joe. “But all they told was their experience, it was all true.

“My mum and stepdad are innocent. They’ve endured enough, we just want them home.”