Latest news with #Kervan
The Guardian
30-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Family of British couple held in Iran urge UK to raise case in talks with Tehran
The son of a British woman who has been held in Iran since January on espionage charges along with her husband has called on the UK government to raise their case during talks with Iran reportedly taking place in Istanbul later this week. Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 52, were arrested on 3 January in Kervan, southern Iran, while travelling through the country from Armenia to Pakistan on a motorcycle journey to Australia. The family, who have not had direct contact with the couple since their incarceration, have said promises from the Foreign Office in the past fortnight to arrange conversations with the couple had not materialised. Six weeks ago, the Foreign Office said it did not know the couple's whereabouts, despite initially having said they were being transferred to Evin prison in Tehran. Lindsay's eldest son, Joe Bennett, said the family were past breaking point. 'The silence is intolerable, inhumane and a stain on the duty of care that the British government owes its citizens.' 'While other countries are ensuring their citizens' cases are raised at the highest levels in negotiations with Iran, we are left shouting into the void, writing letters, running social media campaigns, tagging David Lammy and Keir Starmer and hearing nothing. We are losing faith,' said Bennett, 31. After Israel's bombing of Tehran's Evin prison on 23 June that left more than 70 dead, the family said they 'endured unimaginable fear', uncertain of the couple's wellbeing. Yesterday, the family said they learned the couple was moved from Kervan to a location in Tehran, but said the British government had not confirmed their safety or wellbeing. The Foreign Office has been approached for comment. Renewed calls for their release come after nearly two weeks of war between Israel and Iran in June, during which the US bombed a number of Iran's nuclear sites and brought nuclear talks to an abrupt end. As Iran maintains a fragile ceasefire with the US and Israel, the family has called on the UK government to table the couple's case after learning negotiations between the UK and Iran were set to take place in Istanbul later this week. The UK, France and Germany – the E3, which signed the original nuclear deal with Iran in 2015 – reportedly met Iranian officials for nuclear talks in Istanbul last week, after threatening to reimpose 'snapback' UN sanctions without the risk of a security council veto, so long as they act by its expiry in October. The 2015 deal does not allow other signatories, China or Russia, to veto the sanctions snapback, and since leaving the deal in 2018, the US cannot veto the UK or EU move. The family has also called for immediate public commitment from the foreign secretary, David Lammy, and Keir Starmer, as well as to prioritise urgent and regular phone calls, consular visits and medical and legal support. It is understood the British couple have been visited by consular officials three times, the most recent in May, and have had no medical or consular visits for more than 75 days. 'We cannot and will not remain silent while our loved ones are left to disappear into the shadows of bureaucracy and apathy,' said Bennett. 'This is no longer just a diplomatic issue. It is a humanitarian emergency. The government must act now, before it's too late.' On 23 July, the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for arbitrary detention and hostage affairs wrote to the UK foreign secretary, urging the government to prioritise their case and take further steps to secure their release. 'They are innocent British nationals falsely accused of espionage and held hostage by Iran for political leverage,' said the letter to David Lammy, signed by the parliamentary chair and MP Alicia Kearns, and others. 'Mistakes made in past cases, including the cases of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, must be learnt from,' it added. 'Past cases demonstrate the significant strain placed upon families in working to secure the release of their loved ones.'
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
Yes, Incarcerated Dads Can Play an Active Role in Their Children's Lives
Kervin Sygney has been at Rikers Island for 30 months and misses kissing and hugging his 4- and 10-year-olds most of all. That's one of the hardest parts about incarceration. 'When I left, my son was 2, so he's not the same person. We'll have to start over from scratch when I get out,' he says, dressed in a tan uniform to denote his status as a PIC (person in custody) awaiting trial. In the meantime, he wants to play an active role in their lives from behind bars. But it's not easy. 'We often think of dads as being able to provide and protect. But when they're not physically present, the other contributions they can make are discounted,' says Mike Bobbitt, Deputy Commissioner of Community Development, NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD). To help combat this stigma, the DYCD created the Fatherhood Initiative, a program launched at Rikers Island in 2024 with the goal of helping dads reconnect with their kids while developing essential parenting skills through classes and counseling. Workshops occur twice a week in a classroom setting and cover everything from effective co-parenting to emotional regulation. Though the biggest lessons may be accepting that there's no one way to be a dad. 'It's not a cookie-cutter experience,' says Montavani, a facilitator who encourages honesty and vulnerability by sharing his own stories. 'It can be scary to put yourself out there,' he says. 'But there's a baseline understanding that we're in a safe space trying to figure out what fatherhood is about together.' The program has inspired Kervan to get to know his children on a deeper level: 'I found out my daughter's favorite color is sage blue and my son's favorite food is pizza.' Showing interest in his kids' likes and dislikes is helping to rebuild trust between them. He's also gotten better at navigating co-parenting dynamics. 'I was not on good terms with my children's mother, and we started to really speak because of the program,' he says. 'I want us to come together and be one for our children.' Kervan, who only met his own dad once, is determined to be an involved father. 'I don't know how it feels to really have a dad, so that pushes me to be there for my kids,' he says. And whether he knows it or not, research shows that active paternal engagement reduces behavioral problems in children and improves their socio-emotional health. Rikers Assistant Commissioner for Advancement and Enrichment Programs Stacey King has witnessed the program's impact during family visitation days. 'It tugs at my heartstrings to see [the dads] enjoying quality time with their children,' she says. 'It's my hope that they can use the resources provided in the workshops, even post-discharge, to improve their parental relationships.' Kervan is certainly counting down the days until he's out of Rikers. The first item on his agenda? 'There's gonna be lots of hugs and kisses,' he says. Read the original article on Parents
