Bernard Phelan: family of Irishman left shocked as he is sentenced to six years in Iranian jail

His family warned he was simply in ‘the wrong place at the wrong time’.

The Tipperary-born executive is now suffering from multiple health complaints including hypertensive cardiac disease, eyesight problems and chronic weight loss.

An Iranian judge yesterday signalled the six-and-a-half year prison term as Mr Phelan’s family issued a desperate appeal for him to be allowed home.

His father, Vincent (97), released a special YouTube video in which he appealed for his son to be allowed leave Iran and expressed fears of never seeing his son again.

Mr Phelan’s sister, Caroline Massé Phelan, pleaded with the Irish and French authorities to do more to help her brother.

Iranian authorities accused Mr Phelan, who was educated in Dublin, of “providing information to an enemy country”.

This is believed to refer to tourist photos that Mr Phelan took while in the country.

He has had to use cardboard to block icy gusts from the open bar windows of his cell in the notorious Vakil Abad prison.

Mr Phelan had launched a hunger strike since last October - and now his family revealed he fears he could lose his sight.

His sister managed to speak by telephone to her brother for the first time in over four months last February.

“During the call Bernard told me about the problems with his eye. He said he can no longer see clearly through his eye and we are really worried about not only his sight but his general health,” she said.

They are worried that, if left untreated, the eye issues could leave him partially blind.

His relatives are also worried that his declining health will fail further, given the lengthy sentence he was handed.

“He is an innocent man caught in the middle of I do not know what. He loves Iran. He is 64 and he is sick. All he wants is to go home.”

Mr Phelan’s family were left heartbroken three weeks ago when he was not amongst a group of prisoners granted early release from Iranian prisons as part of an amnesty package.

Mr Phelan was in the country to promote tourism to Iran - and other tourism operators were left shocked when he was dragged away by Iranian paramilitary police with a hood over his head.

Tehran has implemented a brutal crackdown on dissent and has executed a number of its nationals over the past few weeks in the wake of massive street demonstrations.

Iran has been gripped by street protests since a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in custody after being detained by the feared religious police for allegedly wearing her headscarf in an inappropriate manner.

A number of western nationals have been detained in Iran in the wake of the protests.

Some analysts said this was a deliberate policy by Tehran to try to silence the countries that are its most strident international critics.

Mr Phelan has vehemently denied a charge levelled against him by the Iranian authorities of helping to incite propaganda against the Tehran Government.

He was detained in the city of Mashhad on October 3.

Iranian authorities accused him of “propaganda against the establishment” and of photographing police officers.

While born in Clonmel in Co Tipperary, he has been based in France for many years and is understood to have been travelling on a French passport when he was detained. The French authorities have been trying to provide consular support for Mr Phelan’s family.

“We are extremely concerned given the extreme fragility of his health situation,” French Foreign Ministry official Anne-Claire Legendre admitted.

“The denial of medical access at this point from the Iranian authorities is completely unacceptable.”

Irish officials have also been providing consular assistance.

Ms Massé Phelan said her brother urgently needs help after almost six months in custody in Iran.

“He is in one of the worst prisons in Iran,” she said.

“He is on death row. Three out of 50 prisoners on his cell block have been executed since his detention.”

“There is no glass on the windows. It is just bars. So he has to put cardboard on the windows at night just to try and keep warm.”

She said temperatures routinely sink below -5C in winter in Iran.

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