'Like Nazanin, Brit couple in Iran jail are just chess pieces - but one move can free them'

Richard Ratcliffe spent years tirelessly campaigning for the release of his wife - Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe - from Iranian prison.

But now, it seems to him as though little has changed. As he watches the UK government "stalling" when it comes to the British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman - who have been detained in Iran for over 190 days - the government's approach is "depressing" in its familiarity, he tells the Mirror.

Lindsay and Craig had embarked on what was supposed to be the adventurous trip of a lifetime: travelling all the way from their home in Spain to Australia on motorbikes, whilst undertaking a project about what makes a good life as they went, connecting with strangers and learning about communities.

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But in early January this year, the couple suddenly went out of contact with their family as they were travelling through Iran - and never arrived at their hotel.

The pair were arrested by the Iranian authorities on charges of espionage - something that their four children say couldn't be further from the truth. Their children have launched a campaign to help secure the couple's release, but they know very little about the conditions their parents are enduring in Iranian prison, nor have they had much contact.

In early June, the Foremans were due to be transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran - where British-Iranian dual citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was imprisoned between 2017 and her eventual release in 2022, on a series of trumped-up charges, from spying to plotting to overthrow the regime.

However, just weeks later, Israeli strikes hit the infamous facility, and Lindsay and Craig's family had no idea if they were safe, or whether the planned transfer had even gone ahead. Through the Foreign Office, Iranian authorities have since said that the couple are in Kerman - but their four children spent weeks in an unbearable limbo, with no idea what was going on.

Richard told the Mirror he found it "really shocking" that the UK government had not stayed on top of the couple's whereabouts during the conflict.

"I was really shocked that the government had lost track of them in the middle of the Iran-Israel war, and had just closed the Embassy and not updated the family," the campaigner said.

"When Evin prison got bombed, the only thing that mattered was proof of life. Not a vague assurance from the Iranian authorities, but a phone call to the family where they confirmed where they were, and a visit from an independent doctor to confirm they are ok.

"It is quite astonishing that after six months, the government still has not secured that."

But, the campaigner added, this was all recognisably part of the "UK's playbook for stalling" that he and his family had endured for years.

The embassy in Tehran has since been reopened, and Hamish Falconer MP - Minister for the Middle East - has said, "We will continue to play our full role to ensure the safety of British nationals in Iran."

Richard explained that British hostages are part of a larger "game" and that it's a "game we were a chess piece in" but that recognising and accepting this eventually made the ordeal easier to "navigate".

"Iran’s games weren’t personal," he said, adding the realisation allowed them "to better spot the UK’s playbook for stalling".

He added that "talking to other families in the same shoes helped me understand our own story better - to realise Iran’s games weren’t personal, and to better spot the UK’s playbook for stalling.

"That made it gradually easier to navigate, to know the game we were a chess piece in. It takes us all time to accept."

Richard has spoken with Lindsay and Craig's family and helped advise them on what steps they should take in their campaign to secure the release of their "generous and fun" parents, and he told the Mirror what an "isolating" experience a loved one being held hostage can be.

"It is such an isolating and terrifying experience at the beginning. It is like the whole family goes into solitary confinement," he explained.

"The main thing I told them when we first met was that they needed to get it confirmed where they were, and that they were still alive," Richard said, but added that their journey will likely differ from his own during those difficult years when Nazanin was imprisoned.

"I told them that there is no road map - and what works for them will be their own path. But they should remember that the government’s interests were different from the family’s, and that it would continually find ways to kettle the campaign, and stop their suffering getting in the way of other agendas.

"They would get sympathy, but they would have to push hard for any action.

"I found it really alarming that in the six months since Craig and Lindsay were taken hostage, the family had not met the Foreign Secretary or any Minister, or even the Ambassador - and that only changed when they decided to go public.

"It had been the same in Nazanin’s case. So it was depressing to see none of the lessons from our had been learned, despite the Foreign Secretary’s promises in the elections to transform consular protections."

During his family's own ordeal, Richard told the Mirror he found strength in the way the public engaged with Nazanin's story, and those who joined the campaign and cared deeply about the outcome.

"The main thing that kept us going across the years was knowing we were not alone, finding all these people following our story and caring.

"I always felt it was not our campaigning that got Nazanin home, it was all the people who listened and cared. That was what moved the politicians.

Lindsay and Craig's children encourage anyone moved by their parents' story to write to their MP to help their campaign to secure the couple's release from Iran.

The Foreign Office advises against all travel to Iran, and a spokesperson said to the Mirror in response to Richard's claims, "We are deeply concerned by reports that two British nationals have been charged with espionage in Iran. We continue to raise this case directly with the Iranian authorities.

“We are providing them with consular assistance and remain in close contact with their family members.”

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