British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman, sentenced to 10 years in prison on espionage charges in Iran, have been barred from visiting each other in Tehran’s Evin prison for three weeks, sources familiar with the matter told Iran International.
The Foremans, both in their 50s, were arrested in January 2025 while on a motorcycle trip through Iran. Their family says they had valid visas, a licensed guide, and an approved itinerary. They deny the espionage charges.
The Foremans are being held in separate wings of Tehran’s Evin prison, which rights groups have long criticized over alleged torture and inhumane conditions.
A source familiar with the matter said visits between political prisoners and their families were cut off after the Iran-US-Israel war began, with cabin visits restored for some prisoners only in the past two to three weeks.
The source said prisoners with relatives also held in Evin had been allowed ward-to-ward visits.
But when Lindsay and Craig Foreman asked prison officials on Sunday to see each other, they were told they had been banned from both in-person and cabin visits for three weeks because of their BBC World interview, the source said.
Lindsay Foreman said in the interview that her situation was frightening, adding that while it would one day end for them, “for these people it may never end.”
Craig Foreman said four of his cellmates had been taken away for their sentences to be carried out since he was transferred to Evin, with news of their executions broadcast on state television the following day.
Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has previously said it was “deeply concerned” by the couple’s detention and that it continued to raise the case directly with Iranian authorities.
Rights groups and Western governments have long accused Iran of engaging in so-called “hostage diplomacy” by detaining foreign nationals to gain political or economic concessions, an allegation Tehran rejects, saying it faces Western intelligence infiltration.
Born in 1997 in Urmia, he had been arrested on October 22, 2022 during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests.
The judiciary said Abdollahzadeh had been sentenced to death on charges of “corruption on earth” in connection with the killing of Abbas Fatemiyeh, described as a “volunteer force” member in Urmia.
Mizan, the judiciary’s media outlet, said the conviction was based on confessions, witness testimony, images and security reports, adding that the Supreme Court upheld the sentence.
He was executed after previously saying in a message from prison, “From the very first day of my arrest, they extracted confessions from me through torture and threats, all of which were false.”
Rights groups cite coercion concerns
Rights organizations also said the case relied on forced confessions obtained under pressure and lacked fair trial guarantees.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network said Abdollahzadeh was interrogated for 38 days without access to a lawyer or family contact and faced physical and psychological pressure.
The group added he denied the charges and requested mobile location data to challenge his presence at the scene.
Timeline and broader executions
Abdollahzadeh was arrested at his workplace during nationwide protests and later sentenced to death by a revolutionary court in Urmia in September 2024.
Rights groups reported he was moved to solitary confinement days before the execution following a dispute with a prison official.
The execution came after two other men were hanged in the same prison a day earlier on charges of spying for Israel, with rights groups raising concerns over fast-track proceedings and lack of due process.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said this week that at least 21 people have been executed and more than 4,000 arrested on national security charges since the latest conflict in February, warning that rights in Iran continue to face severe restrictions.
"I am appalled that – on top of the already severe impacts of the conflict – the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities, in harsh and brutal ways," Turk said.
Iran International’s reporting was followed by political backlash in Ottawa, international coverage and Mehdi Taj being turned back within hours of landing in Canada.
Speaking to Iran International’s Eye for Iran, Melissa Lantsman, deputy leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, said the case raised serious questions about who approved Mehdi Taj’s entry and why.
“We need to know who did it, when it happened, how it happened, why it happened, and why it’s never going to happen again,” Lantsman said.
Taj, president of Iran’s football federation, had been expected to travel to Vancouver for the FIFA Congress on April 30 at the Vancouver Convention Center.
Iran International previously reported that Taj was issued a Temporary Resident Permit, or TRP, a tool that allows Canadian authorities to admit a person who would otherwise be barred under immigration law.
Canada listed the IRGC as a terrorist entity in 2024, making people linked to the force inadmissible. Taj has longstanding ties to the Islamic Republic’s security establishment and previously served as an intelligence commander in the IRGC in Isfahan.
Lantsman said the permit showed that the issue was not simply a screening failure.
“Somebody actively made this decision to circumvent our own rules,” she said.
“I can’t believe that I work in a place with a minister who would issue a terrorist a permit.”
Taj was able to board a flight to Canada and land in Vancouver. He was sent back within hours, after Iran International’s reporting on the case had already become public.
That sequence has become central to the political fallout in Ottawa. Critics say the government acted only after the case drew public attention, while ministers have declined to discuss details, citing privacy rules.
Lantsman rejected that explanation in the podcast interview.
“We don’t give privacy to terrorists,” she said. “There is no privacy to people who are inadmissible to our country.”
The issue quickly reached Parliament.
Opposition MPs pressed ministers to explain how a person barred under Canada’s own rules received permission to enter the country.
At Thursday’s meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in Ottawa, Conservative MP Frank Caputo asked Immigration Minister Lena Diab how a person deemed inadmissible had been granted entry.
Caputo said “the rule of law demands transparency” and asked “who gave him a visa,” saying Iran International’s reporting had brought the case to public attention.
Prime Minister Mark Carney declined to comment on Taj’s case, citing privacy laws, but defended the government’s position on the IRGC.
“Members of the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guard rightly have been prohibited from entering this country and they will not enter this country,” he said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand suggested the permit may have been granted and later revoked, saying her understanding was that “there is a revocation of the permission” and that “it was unintentional.”
Lantsman said that response only deepened the need for answers.
“If they unintentionally gave him a permit, then we need to know how that happened and why it happened,” she said. “And if the unintentionality of it was about the revocation, that’s even worse.”
The controversy has turned a single immigration decision into a broader political test of Canada’s handling of officials tied to the Islamic Republic.
Although Canada has formally banned the IRGC, Temporary Resident Permits allow authorities to override inadmissibility in certain cases. Taj’s case has raised questions about how such exceptions are approved and what safeguards exist when national security concerns are involved.
The controversy also comes as anger continues over the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on protests in January, with the IRGC at the center of the state response. Rights groups and Iranian activists have described the violence as among the deadliest episodes in modern Iranian history.
At least three Iranian footballers have been killed during the unrest. Ali Karimi, Iran’s former national team captain, has criticized FIFA’s silence and called on the organization to condemn the killing of athletes and speak out against the crackdown.
Lantsman said the opposition has submitted formal questions in Parliament and would continue pressing the government for details.
“This cannot happen,” she said. “We’re going to continue to keep the pressure on.”
The case has also drawn wider attention beyond Canada. The New York Times, USA Today, Agence France-Presse and The Canadian Press have covered the incident, citing Iran International’s reporting.
For Lantsman, the central issue remains who approved the permit and why.
“Somebody in Canada, somebody very high up in the ministry, decides that it’s in public interest of Canada to have this person here,” she said.
The government has yet to publicly identify who authorized the permit, why it was issued, or what measures are being taken to prevent a similar case.
The judiciary’s media center said Yaghoub Karimpour and Nasser Bekrzadeh were hanged in Urmia Central Prison following legal proceedings.
The hangings come as authorities continue to carry out daily executions, taking place against the backdrop of a fragile ceasefire following the conflict that erupted on Feb. 28.
Authorities said Karimpour, a law graduate from Miandoab and a member of the Yarsan religious minority, maintained contact with Mossad and transmitted sensitive information. Rights group Hengaw said Karimpour was arrested in connection with the 12-day war between Iran and Israel last June.
The judiciary said Bekrzadeh, a 26-year-old Kurdish political prisoner, gathered and sent information on key locations, including the Natanz nuclear site, after he was recruited online.
Hengaw said Bekrzadeh’s death sentence was upheld in a fast-track process. "His death sentence was confirmed within just 10 days for the third time by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court and communicated to him on April 25," the group said.
Hengaw expressed concern over the transfer of the men and a third prisoner, 27-year-old Kurdish man Mehrab Abdollahzadeh, to execution cells under "vague pretexts." Abdollahzadeh was arrested during the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests and sentenced to death on charges of armed rebellion.
"Hengaw warns of the serious and immediate danger of the execution of these three prisoners. Hengaw emphasizes that Nasser Bekrzadeh, Yaghoub Karimpour, and Mehrab Abdollahzadeh were sentenced to death in completely non-transparent processes, under torture, and without access to a fair trial," the group said.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said this week Iran has executed at least 21 people and arrested more than 4,000 on national security charges since the start of the latest conflict in February.
"I am appalled that — on top of the already severe impacts of the conflict — the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities, in harsh and brutal ways," Turk said.
