A British couple held in Iran on espionage charges have appeared in a Tehran court represented by a state-appointed lawyer, their family said on Thursday.
Little has been known about the plight of Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 52, since Iranian authorities seized the pair in Kerman, in central Iran, in early January.
They were passing through the country while on a round-the-world motorbike trip, but Tehran has claimed they are spies. Their family has rejected the claim.
In Thursday's update, relatives said in a statement sent to AFP that the couple was "unexpectedly brought before a court in Tehran yesterday (Wednesday) with a state-appointed lawyer", prompting fresh fears over their treatment.
"We cannot see how being suddenly whisked into a court room with no warning, with a state-appointed lawyer they only just met, could be considered to be a fair trial," Lindsay's son Joe Bennett said.
The family added they understood Lindsay also met the UK's ambassador to Iran, Hugo Shorter, on Wednesday and received a "comfort pack of essential supplies".
But an expected consular visit for Craig failed to materialise, they added.
Relatives welcomed Lindsay's meeting with Shorter, but said they remained "alarmed" by the conditions both detainees were facing.
Earlier this month, they spoke by phone with them for the first time since the couple were detained in January. Days before the call, they learned the pair had been moved to separate prisons in and near Tehran.
Lindsay was transferred to Qarchak women's prison, which human rights groups have repeatedly criticised for its reported dire conditions.
"Lindsay is likely sharing a cell of just 13 square metres (140 square feet) with nine other women," Bennett said Thursday, noting it was so overcrowded amid three-tier bunk beds "only two prisoners can stand at one time".
He added his mother made a request to Shorter that she be transferred to Evin Prison, where Craig is being held and where "conditions are understood to be less severe".
Meanwhile, Bennett said the lack of a meeting between the ambassador and his stepfather was "deeply worrying", in particular because Britain's Foreign Office has been unable to transfer money to him to buy essentials.
"It has been well over three and a half months since Craig was last seen. At that time, he had already lost weight. Now, with no funds and no access to food beyond the bare minimum, I can only guess at how he must be," he added.
Bennett urged the UK government to "act swiftly" and said the family had requested an urgent meeting with Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Rights groups and families of other Westerners who have been detained by Iran accuse Tehran of grabbing foreigners in a bid to get leverage over their respective governments.
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