Motorcyclists rode to London’s Parliament Square to raise awareness about a British biking couple who have been detained in Iran for more than a year.
Lindsay and Craig Foreman had been on a motorcycle tour around the world when they were arrested in Iran in January last year.
They have since been sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage – but their family rejects the conviction and says they are being held hostage by the Iranian government.
The convoy of bikes drove past the Iranian embassy on its way to Parliament, and family members delivered a petition to Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street.
Rider Hadi Lutfabadi said he joined after hearing about the demonstration online. He is part of a group of British-Iranian bikers who have been on the streets of London in protest against the Iranian government every weekend since protests began in Iran late last year.
“We are like-minded people, we are bikers,” he said of the Foremans. “When I read their story, they have been hostages in Iran for more than a year for doing nothing,” he said.
“Every single biker in the UK should join us. We need to support each other and support Lindsay and Craig’s family,” he said.
His bike was adorned with anti-regime posters to which he added flags in support for the couple.
Mr Lutfabadi has not been able to speak to his family in Iran for months following the internet blackout in January but says that he has heard from other people that they are well.
He believes that all of Iran’s 90 million people are “taken hostage” by the Iranian authorities.
Mr Foreman has been on hunger strike for 12 days after the Iranian prison guards took away the phone card he used to speak to his family. Ms Foreman has also been cut off, and the family have been told by sources inside the prison that she, too, was on hunger strike.
Their phone access was stopped after Ms Foreman gave an interview to British media last month.
Her son Joe Bennett hoped the ride out will send a message to the Iranian authorities as well as pressure the UK government – which he says is not doing enough to win the couple’s release.
“We’re fighting a war on both sides. We’re fighting to get them released and we’re fighting to get the UK government to care a little bit more,” he said.
“We are trying to make as much noise as possible. We’re not going anywhere as a family. We will continue to fight till the day they’re home, and try to make it as uncomfortable and as difficult as we have to, so that people start to move,” he said.
Mr Bennett has previously spoken of his frustrations with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office’s handling of the case, and his concerns that the withdrawal of British diplomats from Tehran due to the outbreak of war has left his mother and her husband without diplomatic assistance.
Tony Vaughan, Mr Bennett’s MP in Kent, will put questions to the FCDO on Thursday during an adjournment debate in Parliament. “We will try to get some clarity,” Mr Bennett said.
“They are innocent. The British government has said they are innocent. Yet they remain in Evin Prison, their voices have been silenced, promises have been broken, and they feel completely abandoned,” Mr Bennett said.
“This is a medical emergency in the making. We are begging the government to act before it is too late.”
Julian Connell, a biker and friend of the Foremans believed their plight would resonate with other bikers. “They were two people who were following their dream to ride across the world. The biking community always tends to come together when there is these sort of issues,” he said.
“I have no political axe to grind. We’re not at war with Iran. It’s an opportunity for them (the Iranian government) to show that they care about people and families. What a magnificent gesture it would be if they were to release Lindsay and Craig,” he said.
