The family of a British couple on hunger strike in an Iran jail say they are “sick with worry” as the pair ramp up their hunger strike after 10 weeks without food.
Lindsay Foreman, who has not eaten in 66 days, has reportedly vowed to continue her strike until death to expose their treatment inside Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
She and her husband Craig Foreman were arrested on a once-in-a-lifetime world motorbike tour 18 months ago, and were later sentenced to 10 years in prison on espionage charges, which they completely deny.
Mr Foreman, who has not eaten in 75 days, last week had his sentence extended by a further two years for speaking to the press in a hearing with no lawyer or translator, the family said.
UN human rights experts have demanded the couple’s urgent release and said that their incarceration raises grave concerns about state hostage-taking. They warned a month ago that their hunger strike had reached the stage of a “medical emergency”.
Weeks later, their family has learned the pair are now surviving on only water, having previously supplemented their nutrition with honey and salts.
“We are just worried to the core. It almost makes you feel sick with worry, it’s hard to sleep,” Ms Foreman’s son, Joe Bennett, told The Independent.
All phone contact was cut off two months ago and the family are forced to rely on snatched messages from third parties to get basic updates.
On 3 July, more than 100 family members and close friends signed a letter begging the couple to end their hunger strike to protect their health, but it has been blocked from reaching them in prison.
Mr Bennett added: “I don’t know how much damage or lasting impact this will have on them mentally, physically or spiritually.
“You just don’t know whether the next call or the next message you get is going to be something more sinister. It’s only a matter of time, every day that passes is a day closer to something catastrophic happening.”
Sources inside the prison say Ms Foreman has made clear she will not end her protest.
“I will continue until I die to make sure everyone sees what is happening here,” one message said.
For her children, those words are hard to hear.
“I can’t comprehend it, it doesn’t feel real,” Mr Bennett said. “It makes me wonder if it is affecting them mentally.”
Earlier this month, Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that Ms Foreman was suffering from dizziness, body tremors and severe weakness after reportedly losing more than 14 kilograms in weight. Mr Foreman had reportedly lost around 16 kilograms.
Recent reports from inside Evin prison indicate that both remain extremely weak and continue to suffer dizziness while their condition deteriorates.
Prolonged hunger strikes can lead to muscle wastage, organ damage, and, in the worst case, death. After several weeks without food, the body will likely have used up all of its fat reserves and begun to consume muscle tissue – which includes the heart – in order to survive. Nutritional deficiencies can also cause irreversible brain damage.
Mr Bennett and his family are calling for the new government to urgently act to ensure the family’s desperate letter reaches them and restore phone contact.
He has written to the new prime minister, Andy Burnham, and newly appointed foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, and other government officials calling for a strategic diplomatic solution, an urgent consular visit, the provision of vitamins and essential supplies and immediate medical assessment and treatment.
“There is a new government now responsible for this case,” Mr Bennett added. “We are asking them to recognise the urgency of the situation and act accordingly. Being decisive means acting now, while there is still time to make a difference.”
Last month, The Independent revealed that Iran is seeking the return of an Iranian national who has languished in a maximum-security British prison for 23 years, as the couple urged British officials to consider an exchange.
Mr Foreman believes that Richard Jan, an Iranian stalker held in Britain, could be the only “only avenue” to negotiating their release after his case was raised by their jailers in a consular meeting.
Jan’s incarceration was also raised in negotiations for the return of British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained for six years in Iran before she was finally freed after the British government settled a £400m arms debt with the country.
A UK government spokesperson insisted there was “no truth whatsoever to the claims of a potential exchange arrangement”. However, former deputy prime minister David Lammy admitted that “arrangements can be made” when he was questioned about the issue on Sky News.
The Foreman’s family is due to meet with the newly appointed UK envoy for complex consular cases, Alistair Burt, at the end of July.
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “Craig and Lindsay’s health and welfare is our priority. Since their arrest last year, Britain’s Ambassador to Tehran, diplomats and officials in London have been working to provide consular assistance. This includes the ambassador visiting them in prison and facilitating calls with their family back in the UK.
“We have been clear how unjustified and appalling we consider Lindsay and Craig’s incarceration to be, and the action we are taking to try and secure their release.”
Almost 90,000 people have so far signed a petition calling for the government to intervene and the family is raising money to support their campaign.
