UK couple held in Iran speak to relatives by phone: family

A British couple held in Iran on espionage charges spoke by phone Tuesday with relatives in the UK for the first time since they were detained in January, their family announced.

It comes after their children learned over the weekend that Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 52, have been moved to separate prisons in and near Tehran, heightening fears for their welfare.

Iranian authorities seized the pair in Kerman, in central Iran, in early January while they were on a round-the-world motorbike trip, claiming the following month that they were suspected spies.

Little had been known about their whereabouts or welfare since.

Distraught relatives have become increasingly vocal demanding that Iran allow the couple to phone home, and permit British officials more access to them.

"For 213 days, we waited. Hoped. Held our breath. And today, we finally got those phone calls," Lindsay's son Joe Bennett said in a statement.

"We finally heard their voices. After seven long months with no direct contact, we can now say what we've been desperate to say all this time: Lindsay and Craig are alive."

Bennett added the call lasted for around eight minutes, during which "we laughed, we cried, and for a few brief moments, it felt like the weight of the past seven months lifted".

The 31-year-old said that "while it was amazing to hear their voices, we must also keep our eyes firmly on the real issues".

"Lindsay and Craig still haven't had a consular visit in months," he added.

Bennett also urged the UK government to indicate "what it intends to do to secure their release", calling its "ongoing silence" over its strategy "deeply concerning".

Craig's son Kieran Foreman said his separate call with his dad was "a massive relief".

"It brings us back up from the hole of despair we have been in," he added, noting it gave him "hope".

In an interview Monday, Bennett, of Folkestone in southeast England, told AFP that he had learned the previous day that Lindsay had been transferred to Qarchak women's prison near the capital.

Human rights groups repeatedly criticise the dire conditions reported there.

Meanwhile, he revealed Craig had been moved to Tehran's infamous central prison, also known as Fashafouyeh, which is about 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of the capital and has similar notoriety.

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