The family of a British couple held in Iran are calling on US President Donald Trump to push for a hostage exchange as part of any peace deal to end the war. Craig and Lindsay Foreman, from East Sussex, were sentenced to 10 years in Tehran's Evin prison last year on espionage charges they deny.
The couple have been on hunger strike for 39 and 30 days respectively, fearing they have no other way to be heard after being left without legal representation. Joe Bennett, Lindsay's son, said on Wednesday that any serious framework deal between the US and Iran must include the fate of foreign detainees.
“Peace cannot just mean quieter borders and open shipping routes. It must mean people coming home,” he said. Bennett, from Folkestone, Kent, travelled to the US in March to ask Trump for help, citing frustrations with the British government.
He said his parents have been made to sleep on concrete floors or metal bunks with no mattresses, in overcrowded, unsanitary and vermin-ridden conditions. They have endured threats of execution, witnessed knife fights, and suffer from chronic medical neglect, with Craig in agony from untreated dental pain.
The couple lost their appeal earlier this month, with the case now referred to Iran's Supreme Court. The British government has called the sentence “totally unjustifiable” but the family has criticised its response, saying the couple are being used as “human shields”. A petition demanding action has collected over 88,000 signatures.
