Rights group says jailed British couple in Iran continue hunger strike

DUBAI, July 6 (Reuters) – Two Britons jailed in Iran on espionage charges are maintaining a hunger strike over prison conditions and have been denied adequate medical care and contact with their families, U.S.-based Iranian human rights news agency HRANA reported on Monday.

Citing information it received and an unidentified source familiar with the couple’s situation, HRANA said Craig and Lindsay Foreman had lost about 16 kg and more than 14 kg respectively during the strike. It said Lindsay Foreman had not received a medical check-up for about 10 days despite dizziness, body tremors, and severe weakness.

HRANA said the couple had recently been allowed to speak by telephone with their lawyer but remained barred from contacting family or each other. It said medicines, eyeglasses, books and hygiene items sent by the British embassy had not been delivered despite approval from prison medical staff and ward officials.

The Foremans were arrested in January 2025 while travelling through Iran by motorcycle and were sentenced to 10 years in prison each on espionage charges, a conviction upheld on appeal in June. They have denied the accusations, saying no evidence was presented against them and they were not given an opportunity to defend themselves.

Iranian authorities were not immediately available for comment.

In February, Britain’s foreign minister Yvette Cooper condemned the Britons’ sentence as “totally unjustifiable” and said the British government would continue to press for their release. 

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have in recent years detained foreign and dual nationals, typically on espionage or national security charges.

Human rights organisations say the authorities use such arrests as leverage in disputes with other countries, a practice they describe as part of a broader pattern of politically motivated detentions. Tehran has rejected those accusations and said the cases involved legitimate security concerns.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom, Editing by William Maclean)