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By Chronicle Staff with Agencies
TEHRAN — An Iranian court has sentenced a British-Iranian couple to a decade in prison each on charges of espionage, the latest development in a series of high-profile detentions that have further strained diplomatic relations between London and Tehran.
The sentencing, announced Thursday by the Iranian judiciary’s spokesperson, concludes a closed-door trial that human rights organizations and British officials have characterized as a “politically motivated sham.”
Charges of “Hostile Cooperation”
The couple, whose identities have been withheld at the request of their families, were arrested late last year while visiting relatives in the Islamic Republic. According to Mizan Online, the judiciary’s official news agency, the two were convicted of “cooperating with a hostile state”—a reference to the United Kingdom, and “gathering classified information with the intent to disrupt national security.”
Iranian authorities allege the pair were recruited by British intelligence services to map sensitive military sites under the guise of academic research. No evidence supporting these claims has been made public, a standard practice in Iran’s Revolutionary Courts, where national security cases are adjudicated.
“Hostage Diplomacy” Allegations
The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) issued a sharp condemnation following the verdict. “The sentencing of British nationals on trumped-up charges is completely unacceptable,” a spokesperson stated. “We continue to call for their immediate release and are providing consular support to their families.”
Diplomatic observers suggest the timing of the sentence may be linked to ongoing negotiations regarding frozen Iranian assets and the stagnant nuclear deal. Critics of the Tehran government have long accused the leadership of practicing “hostage diplomacy”, detaining dual nationals to use as leverage in geopolitical bargaining with Western powers.
A Pattern of Detentions
This latest verdict follows the high-profile cases of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, both of whom were released in 2022 after years of imprisonment. However, several other dual nationals remain behind bars in Iran, including British, American, and French citizens.
Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have warned that the legal environment in Iran for foreign visitors remains “extremely precarious.” They highlight a pattern of forced confessions and the denial of access to independent legal counsel as hallmarks of the Iranian judicial system’s treatment of political detainees.
As London weighs its diplomatic response, the families of the sentenced couple have expressed “devastation,” maintaining that their loved ones are innocent “pawns in a much larger game.”