Family of couple held in Iran meet with Ed Miliband

The family of a couple who have been detained in Iran for nearly two years say a change of approach is needed after meeting Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband for the first time.

Lindsay and Craig Foreman, from East Sussex, have been held since January 2025 after being sentenced to 10 years in prison on espionage charges, which they deny.

Now the couple's family say they feel they are edging closer to freeing them after a first meeting with Miliband since he became foreign secretary in July, but they want the government to consider legal proceedings.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said the couple's health and welfare was "a top priority".

Lindsay's son, Joe Bennett, from Folkestone, said the family had came out of the meeting with Miliband feeling they had "edged closer to our goal - bringing Mum and Craig home".

He told BBC Radio Kent: "For him to hear it from us first hand what it would mean to us as a family, I really do think he took it on board."

"Nothing has changed today, so there is a little bit of disappointment, but we feel that what we asked really did resound with Ed.

"We are doing a good job, but at the core of it the two people who need to come home are still where they are."

The want the government to consider proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Lindsay and Craig Foreman were detained in Iran after entering the country on a motorcycling holiday at the beginning of January 2025.

The couple began hunger strikes earlier this year, after claiming that prison authorities had began to prevent them from speaking to their families. The hunger strikes lasted 93 and 84 days respectively.

Their detention has coincided with widespread tension in the country and the US's war with Iran.

Tuesday's meeting was also attended by Folkestone MP Tony Vaughan and Gravesham MP Dr Lauren Sullivan, as well as members of the family's legal team and Middle East Minister Stephen Doughty.

In September, Miliband reiterated the British government's request for the immediate release of the couple when meeting with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

A spokesperson said: "Since their arrest last year, Britain's ambassador to Tehran, along with diplomats and officials in London, have been working to provide consular assistance. This includes the ambassador visiting them in prison.

"The Foreign Secretary set out how unjustified and appalling we consider Lindsay and Craig's incarceration to be, and the action that the UK Government is taking to try to secure their release."

The FCDO warns all British and British-Iranian nationals not to travel to Iran because of a "significant risk of arrest, questioning or detention".

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