A British couple who were arrested while riding motorcycles through Iran on a trip around the world have been sentenced to ten years in prison for espionage, their family said today, the BBC reports.
Lindsay and Craig Forman were detained by Iranian authorities in January 2025 and later charged with espionage, which the couple deny.
The Formans are being held separately in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, which the Iranian government uses to hold political prisoners.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called the verdict "utterly appalling and completely unjustified," while Lindsay's son Joe Bennett said his family was "deeply concerned about their condition."
Bennett said Iranian authorities had never presented any evidence of espionage and called on the British government to "act decisively and use every available opportunity" to bring them home.
The Formans previously appeared at a three-hour court hearing in Tehran in October, and were not allowed to present their defense.
The family says the judge handed down the verdict in Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
The Sussex couple, both in their fifties, spent 13 months in "desperate" conditions, Bennett said earlier, adding that they were surrounded by "filth, vermin and violence" and were losing weight.
The Formans are being held in separate wings of Evin prison, which has long been criticized for alleged torture and inhumane conditions. It is said to house thousands of prisoners, including journalists and political prisoners.
Bennett said the couple's lawyers in Iran had made it clear that there was no legal basis for the proceedings against them, but their requests for bail had been ignored.
Bennett said his mother and stepfather's plight had left him "sick with worry" and he had repeatedly asked the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Department (FCDO) to help them.
He also said that his family felt "abandoned" by the government and that he had not received a response to letters he sent to the prime minister and foreign minister.
Reacting to the ruling, Cooper said: "We will pursue this case tirelessly with the Iranian government until we see Craig and Lindsay Forman safely returned to the UK and reunited with their family. In the meantime, their welfare is our priority and we will continue to provide consular assistance to them and their families."
The British Foreign Office has long advised against all travel to Iran, warning British and British-Iranian dual nationals that holding a British passport or any connection to the United Kingdom could lead to detention.
Iran has arrested dozens of Iranians with dual citizenship or foreign permanent residency in recent years, mostly on charges of espionage and endangering national security. At least 15 of them had ties to the United Kingdom.
Human rights groups say they are often held as a bargaining chip and released only when Iran gets something in return.
British-Iranian citizens Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anousha Ashouri were released in 2022 and allowed to leave Iran after the United Kingdom settled a £650 million debt owed to Iran.
French citizens Cecile Kohler, Jacques Parry and Olivier Grondo, as well as German citizen Nahid Taghavi, have all been released from Iranian prisons after prolonged pressure from their governments, their families said.
The BBC previously learned that the pair could be used as a bargaining chip between Iran and its Western adversaries, and that it was expected that a deal could be reached as United States President (US) Trump seeks to improve relations with Iran.
On Tuesday, Iran said it had found "basic principles" with the US to resolve disputes over its nuclear program.
The meeting came after the US repeatedly issued military threats over Iran's deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Activists say at least 6.000 people have been killed in demonstrations against the government and the high cost of living. Investigations into thousands of additional deaths are ongoing.
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