Irishman held in Iranian jail 'going blind in one eye' 

Travel consultant Bernard Phelan is accused of engaging in propaganda against the Iranian regime.

An Irishman being held in an Iranian jail has started to go blind in one of his eyes, his family has said.

Bernard Phelan, from Clonmel, Co Tipperary, was arrested on October 3 while travelling in Iran and has been in jail since. The 64-year-old travel consultant, who went on hunger strike to highlight his plight earlier this year, is accused of engaging in propaganda against the Iranian regime.

His sister Caroline Massé Phelan got to speak to him for the first time since his arrest last week. “During the call he told me about his eye,” she said. "He can no longer see clearly through his eye." 

Ms Massé Phelan thinks her brother had a cornea replacement earlier in 2022 and that untreated complications as a result of that surgery may be the reason he is losing his vision.

It was an emotional conversation in the beginning and at the end, when he had to go.”

Ms Massé Phelan said Bernard's family are very worried for his health. "He had a fall after his left knee just gave way on him. It doesn’t help that walking sticks are forbidden in jail.”

The 64-year-old, who has dual nationality, had been travelling through the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad on his French passport when he was arrested.

He was first held in solitary confinement for a a number of weeks before being transferred to the notorious Vakilabad Prison, where he is now held.

Ms Massé Phelan, who has been campaigning for his release, told the Irish Examiner about the conditions in which her brother is being held. “He has two opportunities to leave his cell for 45 minutes. He uses them to cook or for a walk. He can only see the sky because the walls of the yard, which are covered in barbed wire, are so tall.

“He only knows if it has snowed if there is still snow resting on the barbed wire.

According to his French GP, he has an elevated risk of suffering a heart attack due to hypertension and heart disease. He also suffers from atherosclerosis, a degenerative disease of his arteries.

He also suffers from chronic lower back pain caused by spinal disc protrusion and his GP says his back is constantly in a “chronic inflammatory state” which — again — risks the chances of him suffering from a heart attack.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin has called for Mr Phelan to be released on humanitarian grounds.

Mr Phelan had travelled to Iran in mid-September, when nationwide demonstrations were taking place after Iranian woman Mahsa Amini died following her detention by morality police enforcing Iran's strict hijab rules. 

Apart from being accused of engaging in anti-regime propaganda, it is also alleged he took photographs of Iranian police officers and of a burning mosque, sent photographs to the Guardian newspaper in the UK and stole two pieces of 900-year-old pottery from a village he was visiting.