UK government urged to step up efforts to return couple jailed in Iran

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband has urged the government to scale up efforts to return a jailed British couple from Iran to prevent another family being separated for years.

Craig and Lindsay Foreman were arrested by Iranian authorities in January while on a motorbike trip from Europe to Australia. They were accused of espionage, a charge which the couple and their family deny.

Richard Ratcliffe told the BBC the government should have learned lessons from his wife's detention, urging it to take "serious measures".

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) said it takes all "allegations of human rights violations, including that a detention may be arbitrary, very seriously".

"The assistance we can provide depends on the individual circumstances of the case and the local conditions – the impact and influence we can have will not always be the same," an FCDO spokesperson said.

But Mr Ratcliffe says the government needs to increase its transparency with the family about the strategies it's employing to return the couple.

He said it should "stop pretending this is going to sort itself out, and take serious measures to get them home, rather than leave another family separated for years."

British officials, negotiators, and decision-makers need to update their policy in dealing with state hostage-taking, he said.

"The current pretence is unsustainable, and seems to put all the burden and blame on the victims," he told the BBC.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian national and charity project manager, had been visiting Iran with her daughter Gabriella when she was arrested in 2016.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard accused her of trying to overthrow the state, which she denied.

Her husband spearheaded a campaign for her release until she was returned after nearly six years.

One of the "deep frustrations" early on in Nazanin's case was how slow the UK government moved, and "how quick they were to deflect and downplay what Nazanin was going through," he said, adding that it took years for ministers to acknowledge Nazanin was being taken hostage.

"I always felt her suffering was made worse by the government's pretence."

"We did hope by telling our story that the government would learn lessons, and wouldn't keep repeating these mistakes," he said.

"But the more I hear about their approach to Craig and Lindsay's case, the less it feels like any lessons have been learned."

The Foremans' family say they entered Iran with valid visas, a licensed guide and a pre-approved itinerary, as required under Tehran's rules.

Their son, Joe Bennett, from Folkestone, Kent is now campaigning full time for their release. He has only spoken to his mother three times in the 11 months since her arrest.

Two weeks ago, he told the BBC the pair had embarked on a hunger strike in a "cry out for help" to push for better conditions, including more phone calls and to be able to visit her husband, who is being held in a separate cell.

Both are now eating again, although Mr Bennett had been told they were looking thin. They have not yet been able to visit one another.

"My mum and Craig are British citizens. They are living in horrific conditions, isolated, kept behind bars, stripped of their human dignity," he said in a statement.

He added the family "shouldn't have to fight this hard just to get the basic support".

"We need the Government to show the same determination it eventually mustered for Nazanin—now, immediately, urgently, and not years from now."

The couple, both in their early 50s from East Sussex, are being held in separate crowded cells in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran, where Nazanin was imprisoned.

They have appeared in court several times but have not been officially tried - or convicted.

Another detained Iranian-British national, Anoosheh Ashoori, was returned on the same flight as Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe in 2022 after being held for five years.

The story of her detention and the campaign to release her has been developed into a BBC drama Project 951.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4 for the series earlier this week, Mr Ratcliffe recalled the "disorientation" and "trauma" of his wife's imprisonment.

The UK government advises against all travel to Iran because of a "significant risk" of arrest, and says having a British passport or connections to the UK "can be reason enough for the Iranian authorities to detain you".