Chrissie Reidy,Londonand
James McCarthy,South East
PA Media
Anoosheh Ashoori, his daughter Elika Ashoori, Joe Bennett, Sue Clarke and Richard Ratcliffe handed in the petition to Downing Street
The son of a British woman detained with her husband in Iran has handed in a 70,000-signature petition to Downing Street, calling on the government to do more to free them.
Lindsay and Craig Foreman were taken into custody in January 2025 during a world motorcycle tour.
Later charged with espionage, the couple from East Sussex are now in Tehran’s Evin prison. They deny the allegations.
Ms Foreman’s son, Joe Bennett, said the pair were trying to stay strong in “one of the worst places in the world”.
Family handout
Lindsay and Craig Foreman have been detained in Iran since January 2025
He was joined at Number 10 by former detainee Anoosheh Ashoori and Richard Ratcliffe, who went on hunger strike twice in a bid to get his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe freed from Iran.
Mr Bennett, from Folkestone, Kent, said: “I need to know they [the government] are working as hard as they can to get them home.”
The petition was handed in after a choir of supporters sang Stand By Me.
Every day in prison “chisels away at their mental and physical health,” Mr Bennett said, adding: “They are not spies for the British state.”
He was speaking on Saturday as Iranian media reported another day of clashes between security forces and demonstrators.
Protests erupted in Iran last Sunday over inflation and currency devaluation, after the Iranian rial hit a record low against the US dollar.
At least eight people are reported to have died during the week-long protests, as of Saturday morning.
On Friday, Donald Trump warned Iran that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters” the US “will come to their rescue”.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the US president’s warning was “reckless and dangerous”.
Mr Bennett described it as a “worrying situation”.
PA Media
The petition was handed as a rally by the Association of Anglo-Iranian Women in the UK took place nearby in solidarity with those protesting in Iran
He said he was urging Mr and Mrs Foreman to prepare for different possible scenarios, including what they may have to do if the regime is toppled.
“They have to be as prepared as possible for that eventuality,” he said.
Mr Bennett said he was able to speak to his family in prison, adding: “Their health is deteriorating. It is tough for them. They shield us about what the actual reality is like for them because they do not want us to be afraid.
“My mum is the most important person in the world to me and when you hear her down, dejected, crying and begging to come home – it is hard to take.
“Yes, they are strong but every day is a day that chisels away at their mental and physical health.”
The Foreign Office has said the government was “deeply concerned” and continued to “raise this case directly with the Iranian authorities”.
