Middle East

UN experts demand Iran free British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman from detention

UN independent human rights experts have issued a joint statement demanding the "immediate and unconditional" release of British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman, who were detained in Iran in January 2025. The statement comes as the US-Iran framework deal comes into force. A British Foreign Office spokesman said the case was being followed via diplomatic channels with Tehran.

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United Nations Geneva headquarters exterior under overcast skyPhoto: Hugo Magalhaes / Pexels
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Independent human rights experts attached to the office of UN Secretary-General António Guterres have issued a joint statement demanding the "immediate and unconditional" release of British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman, who were detained in Iran in January 2025. The statement said the Foremans' detention was "without clear basis or legal foundation" and that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was closely following the process.

The couple's lawyer, Mahmoud Behzadi Rad, told the BBC: "My clients have been held for 17 months in Iran's Evin prison; only in the last three months have they been able to gain partial regular visiting rights with their families." British Foreign Office spokeswoman Helena Greaves said: "Our diplomatic discussions with Tehran on consular access and release are continuing."

The statement came as the US-Iran framework deal entered force. The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, speaking in Tehran, described the case as an "internal legal matter" and said the UN experts' statement was "politically motivated". Sterling did not move materially against the dollar.

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This article is an AI-curated summary of the original story published by BBC Middle East. The illustration is a stock photo by Hugo Magalhaes from Pexels and is not from the original story.

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