Tehran:
The judiciary said on Tuesday that Iran has accused the British doubles Craig and Lindsay Foreman of espionage, including his arrest last month, of cooperation with Western intelligence services.
Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said the pair was accused of “posted as tourists” in Iran and collected information before their arrest in South -East Province Karman.
The Mizan online website of the judiciary said to the Chief Justice of Karman Ebrahim Hamidi, saying that the couple’s link for foreign intelligence services has been confirmed.
“Additional investigation is still on,” Hamidi said.
Jahangir was quoted, saying that he was taken into custody on “espionage charges” by Iran’s Islamic revolutionary guard Corps.
The spokesperson said Foremans were accused of “information from many provinces” and “hostile and cooperating with secret institutions associated with intelligence services of Western countries”.
The BBC had reported that the couple were in their early 50s and were on a motorbike trip worldwide when they were detained in January.
According to social media posts, he moved from Armenia to Iran in December and was slowly making his way for Australia.
European held in Iran
On Friday, Britain’s Foreign Office stated that it was “providing consular assistance to two British citizens detained in Iran” and was in contact with Iranian officials.
Last week, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said the British Ambassador Hugo Shorter met with the couple at the office of the Karman prosecutor.
The agency also published a picture of the meeting, in which the couple’s faces were blurred.
The British government advises against all travels to Iran.
Many other European are in custody in Iran, who have exchanged several prisoners with Western governments in recent years.
In January 2023, Iran announced the execution of the British-Irani double-citizen Alirza Akbari, inspiring resentment among Western governments including Britain, which called it “barbaric”.
Akbari was convicted of spying for Britain.
In January, Iran released the Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who was arrested a month ago for “violating the Islamic Republic’s law”.
Prior to his release, Italy freed the Iranian national Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested in December at Milan at the behest of the United States.
The US accused him of violating US sanctions and supplying sophisticated drone navigation technology to Iran’s army. Iran denied any link between Sala and Abedini cases.
The French doubles Cecil Kohler and Jacques Paris have been imprisoned in Iran since May 2022 on charges of a capital crime.
In June, Iran released two Swedas in exchange for a former officer held in Sweden in a swap, one of the European Union diplomats in a swap by Oman.
In 2023, Oman also included the release of six European prisoners in Iran, including Belgian aid activist Olivier Vandcastail, who was convicted of espionage and detained for more than a year.
(This story is not edited by NDTV employees and auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
