A British couple were arrested in Iran for unspecified security concerns.
Not good. I hope they get it sorted quickly and are not held to be used as pawns in the bigger scheme by the regime.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-ne...otorbike-trip/

Wayne

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The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

A married British couple held in Iran since January. News just out.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

A lot of people on here have more than likely gone to places not recommended by the foreign office, I've certainly notched up a few. Though Iran is one I'd happily avoid in the name of fun to be honest, especially at the moment. Very underhanded of the Iranians to give them a visa only to trap them. Sincerely hope the situation gets resolved ASAP, the worry must be immense.

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www.simba4x4.com

I know what you mean - Iran is a country that is in the route I am planning. Not for any contrary reason but because it is in the route and the reputation of the populace is very positive.The number of people that have been through Iran shows that in normal circumstances there is not a problem so why the government should pick these two up is not clear. Hopefully it will be resolved very quickly.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

The sentence I highlighted in bold font really isn't helpful, Imho.

I hope they get released soon. They were arrested for alleged "security" reasons. These haven't yet been clarified.

I ask:

Did they fly a drone (a huge no no, as that Australian couple found out)?

Did they take a picture of something they shouldn't have?

Did they speak out of turn to someone?

The lady was apparently doing some "research". Did someone have an issue with her line of questioning?

Like I said above: I hope they're released very soon!

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TBS.com

This is all over the groups and forums.

She is a self proclaimed "Hippy" and "life coach".

It is reported (and I can't confirm if it's true) that she was interviewing women in Iran asking them if they were happy with their lives. And obviously someone took offence. And now they're in jail.

How f**king stupid can you be...

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Fortunately, for us all, this will not be the case. It is advice, not the law, on the Foreign and Commonwealth website. They considered the risks, and decided that in their circumstances that they did not think that there would be a problem - sadly, they were wrong. It does make me think about the risk I am proposing taking when I go to Iran - some aspects to the risk I can mitigate, some I can’t - it is food for thought, which is why I put it up in the first place - to keep people informed.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

I mentioned this a few weeks ago.

My Aussie sons in-laws live in Iran.

I was planning on flying over, hiring a bike and doing a bit of touring.

They begged her to make me change my mind “as it isn’t a good time”. They were reticent to elaborate. Given the Iranian’s are very hospitable, this is somewhat out of character. They don’t even want their daughter and SIL to visit atm.

Make of that what you will.

Once you get to know Iran a bit, you'll understand that there is a lot of (historically very well founded) suspicion of Brits especially, more than Americans I would say. I have travelled in Iran numerous times on both a UK passport and a German passport and the response of the authorities has been quite different.

With a UK passport, I was forever being taken into police stations and asked questions, lots of time wasting. With a German passport I am just an innocent tourist, even when driving a UK plate car. Now there may be some unconnected reasons, being older, not poking around such sensitive areas on later trips, but being British absolutely makes you more of a subject of official suspicion.

Another thing, none of us were there. While they look like decent people, anyone can make a mistake, get in a situation. Perhaps they have done something wrong.

Undercover/informer types like to lure you in with innocuous chatter to get the information they want. And if she was admitting to being in Iran for research, she should not be there on a tourist visa.

None of this is to say that the Iranians would be above using travellers to exert political pressure, or to at least make an example of them for some minor infringement.

The Iranian regime is in a very bad way right now - the economy is getting even worse, and they have lost a lot of regional influence in a very short time with events in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, and a new US administration which may be very hawkish on Iran.

I would still go (on a German passport, not sure I'd risk it as a Brit), but I would be very careful to keep a low profile and not poke into any sensitive areas.

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.

Eurasiaoverland nails it. Let’s hope the world settles in a few years.

They have been charged with espionage.

A judiciary spokesperson said that the couple, both aged 52, had "enter Iran under the guise of tourists" and "gathered information in multiple provinces of the country".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c743jle3vkno

So it seems that entering the Islamic Republic of Iran on a tourist visa and asking random Iranians if they're "happy" (her "research" topic...) isn't such a great idea . Who would have thought (English)/ thunk (American) it? ...

Ideally they'll be released soon with the biggest "life coaching" experience of their lives.

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TBS.com

While I have some sympathy, and it must be horrendous to be incarcerated in Iran, there is really a great deal of naivety in not seeing how easily 'asking some questions for a research project' can be construed as espionage, not to mention the obvious violation of the terms and spirit of a tourist visa.

I think they'll be there for a few years. Maybe an amnesty when Mr. Marjoribanks dies, which can't be too far off.

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.

Some naivety indeed on timing if nothing else - I imagine on some level they hoped their openess of traveling with glad hearts to meet people and share experience would prevent focus from authorities rather than magnify it, though at this present moment in time there's a case for supposing Iran would have picked anyone up so their adversaries have to ask very politely if they wouldn't mind giving them back.
One hopes they are at least allowed to be held together and not separated.

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www.simba4x4.com

I think this reply is echoing some of the naivety the defendants have shown - they made it public that they were researching something and talking to people. To a paranoid, indoctrinated regime member that is spying. Tourists come to take pictures, not interview people.

I don't think the Iranian authorities pick foreign travellers and accuse them of espionage, but if you hand them the case on a plate...

I don't know of mixed prisons in the UK and they certainly don't have them in Iran.

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.