LONDON: A British woman held in Iran on spying charges has been moved into the same prison as her husband after protests reportedly flared in her women’s jail, her family said Tuesday.
Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 52, have been held since January after Iranian authorities seized the couple as they passed through Kerman, in central Iran, while on a round-the-world motorbike trip.
Lindsay Foreman was transferred last week from Qarchak women’s prison to Evin prison in Tehran, where her husband Craig is also detained, the family said in a statement sent to AFP.
They were told of the move by the couple’s state-appointed lawyer in Tehran.
While the family said it was “relieved” that Lindsay Foreman had left Qarchak, it noted Evin remains “one of the most notorious prisons in the world. We cannot let slight relief turn into complacency.”
The couple’s son Joe Bennett said the family had been “sick with worry” over reports of the treatment of prisoners in Qarchak.
Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based NGO, said in late September that 19 women had gone on hunger strike “due to serious problems with illness and access to medical care” in the prison.
And the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said three women had died there through lack of medical care.
Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized the prison’s reportedly dire conditions.
“Mum being moved to Evin might mean a little more access, maybe a phone call, maybe slightly better treatment, but this doesn’t change the bigger picture,” Bennett said.
“She is still an innocent British woman, wrongfully imprisoned in Iran.”
Relatives only spoke to the pair for the first time in early August and have grown increasingly frustrated at the handling of their case.
The couple is still waiting to hear their verdict after they appeared in court on September 27 on the spying charges.
Bennett said the family was due to meet Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper on Thursday.
“We need a clear plan from the UK government. They cannot allow this to drift any longer,” Bennett said.
Protests force prison transfer of UK woman held in Iran
https://arab.news/bz8gk
Protests force prison transfer of UK woman held in Iran
- Lindsay and Craig Foreman have been held since January as they passed through Kerman, in central Iran, while on a round-the-world motorbike trip
Israel army ‘temporarily suspends’ strike on south Lebanon
- The Israeli military issued a warning earlier on Saturday announcing an imminent strike and warning people in the Yanuh area of south Lebanon to evacuate immediately
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it would “temporarily” suspend a strike planned for Saturday that was intended to target what it described as Hezbollah military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
A November 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, which broke out after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
But Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah members and infrastructure to stop the group from rearming.
The Israeli military issued a warning earlier on Saturday announcing an imminent strike and warning people in the Yanuh area of south Lebanon to evacuate immediately.
But later Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said “the strike was temporarily suspended,” adding that the military “continues to monitor the target.”
The suspension came after the Lebanese army “requested access again to the specified site... and to address the breach of the agreement,” he said on X.
Adraee added that the military would “not allow” Hezbollah to “redeploy or rearm.”
The year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism includes the United Nations, the United States and France.
A Lebanese security source said the army had previously tried to search the building that the Israeli military wanted to target but could not because of objections from residents.
But the source told AFP that the Lebanese army was able to enter and search the building after returning a second time, because residents “felt threatened,” adding that they were evacuated over fears of a strike.
