The son of a British couple who have spent 500 days in an Iranian jail 'for spying' has blamed Keir Starmer for abandoning his parents.    

Joe Bennett's mother and stepfather, Lindsay and Craig Foreman, have been incarcerated in the country since January last year, after being charged with 'espionage' whilst passing through on a trip around the world.

Mr Bennett, 31, works in software sales but has since given up his job to campaign full-time for the release of his mother, 53, and Craig, 52, as they near 500 days in jail.

He says the couple, who are being held in separate prisons with other political prisoners, feel as though they've been 'abandoned' by their own country after being handed ten-year sentences without a fair trial.

Mr Bennett called for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to be 'braver' in calling for the release of British nationals being unlawfully detained abroad.

He cited recent cases where French President Emmanuel Macron successfully campaigned to get similarly detained French nationals released and sent home from Iran.

'My mum and Craig feel a sense of abandonment from their government,' Mr Bennett, from Folkestone, Kent, said.

'They don't feel the response has been proportionate for the allegations against them.

'The government have only said their detention is 'unjustifiable'.

'I look at Macron and the campaigning for his citizens. What is stopping us from doing the same?

'If UK nationals get detained and are innocent, you want to know and feel that your government will fight for your release.

'It just does not feel like that. We shouldn't be having to fight for them to care, but it feels like they don't care about my mum and Craig.'

Life coach Lindsay and her husband Craig were on a round-the-world motorcycle trip, scheduled to end at a positive psychology conference in Brisbane on Australia's eastern coast.

'Along the way, they were asking people what a good life means to them, in various parts of the world,' Mr Bennett explained.

'Mum's a positive psychologist, and they both enjoy travelling and embracing new cultures.

'They were supposed to be passing through Iran for four days. They had everything they needed and had spoken to others who had done the journey.

'They had a tour guide, visas, stuck to the main roads - everything that millions of others have done before.

'It was very dangerous and treacherous... They had only been riding bikes for about six months.

'On their penultimate day - and it seems to be the playbook that they wait until you're about to leave the country - they were picked up in Kerman.

'They have been incarcerated ever since.'

When they were first detained in January last year, Lindsay and Craig were held together, but have now been separated.

Both are now being held in different sections of Tehran's notorious Evin prison; Lindsay with Iranian women who speak little to no English, and Craig with other male political prisoners from around the world.

They were sentenced to ten years in February this year on 'espionage' charges, following a 'very fast' trial in which they were each given state-appointed lawyers.

'There was no evidence, and they've now been sentenced to ten years,' Joe continued.

'The trauma of what's going on for the family is going to be there, no matter what.

'It's about how we try and deal with that. It's a difficult situation.'

Mr Bennett says the British government has told the family to keep quiet on his mother and stepfather's situation, advising him not to speak to the press or contact the families of other victims jailed in Iran.

But he says he's grown frustrated at the 'wait and see' policy the government has adopted.

Mr Bennett has maintained regular contact with Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian national detained in Iran for six years until her eventual release in 2022.

Mr Ratcliffe went on several hunger strikes outside the Iranian embassy in London during his wife's imprisonment, and frequently criticised the UK government for not doing more to facilitate her release.

'It's easy to say they're doing all they can behind the scenes,' Mr Bennett continued.

'But we are left in the lurch: we see words and no action.

'We don't feel they are taking a stand for what is right. It takes away all hope from my parents.

'We want to give them positivity, but all we get is: 'We are assessing the situation'.

'They feel abandoned.'

Mr Bennett, who is now allowed regular phone calls with Lindsay and Craig, says recent US-Israeli operations against Iran - including the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in late February - have been 'tense', with several bombs dropping near where the couple are being detained.

Mr Bennett believes the fragile ceasefire that still holds offers a good opportunity to negotiate for their release.

'It was out of our hands [during the US-Israeli attacks]. It made it harder to push mum and Craig up the agenda.

'But the ceasefire seems like the opportune moment to say, 'Let's start with the release of innocent people'.

'I feel the UK government has to be a bit braver and more forceful.

'They need to demand their people back, but we just don't feel that.

'Sir Keir Starmer has not once said their names. Granted, he's worried about his own job at the moment, but it feels the family is fighting a battle on two fronts: to get them released and to get the government on board.

'It feels like they're an emotional sponge. They say they're doing something, but I don't see any of it happening.

'It makes me think they're not doing anything. There's this policy of 'wait and see what happens'.

'It could be ten years before they're released if that's our policy.

'Being on the periphery of the war should have been a positive. We can say: 'We didn't get involved, but we are keen to get our people home'.'

Mr Bennett says there are worries that elderly family members might never get the chance to see Craig and Lindsay again before they die.

Craig's son, Kieran, is due to get married soon, but his father will be in a prison cell in Iran whilst Champagne is popped back home on the other side of the world.

The couple also won't be able to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary in June.

'I will not allow this to go on for ten years, for their sakes,' Mr Bennett vowed.

'It was said that they were innocent tourists in Parliament recently.

'It's arbitrary detention, which means the UK government has to work towards a plan to get them out.

'But they refuse to call it arbitrary detention.'

Mr Bennett says he was told that Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper had recently spoken to her Iranian counterpart, but that Craig and Lindsey's case was not mentioned as the 'tone was not right'.

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: 'Since Lindsay and Craig's 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.

'The Foreign Secretary last met the family on 17 March. She set out to them personally how unjustified and appalling we consider Lindsay and Craig's incarceration to be, and the action that the UK Government is taking to try and secure their release.

'We will continue working to ensure that Craig and Lindsay are returned safely to the UK.'