A self-described activist charged over the arson of a mosque in Dublin has told a court he left Iran a decade ago to escape torture and hanging for rejecting Islam.
Saeid Khosroabadi (41) of Seville Place, Dublin 1, was arrested following a blaze at the doorway of the Faizan E Madinah Mosque on Talbot Street, in the north inner city, just before 3.30pm on June 29th.
It is alleged the Iranian national, who calls himself an anti-Islam activist, told gardaí he was opposed to sharia law in Ireland and did not care if children died in the fire.
Khosroabadi is charged with committing arson, causing criminal damage at the mosque.
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The offence, on conviction, is punishable by a 10-year sentence.
Bail was denied on July 1st, when he was remanded in custody, and he appeared again at Cloverhill District Court on Wednesday.
The case was adjourned until next week for prosecutors to serve him with a book of evidence.
The accused had no legal representation due to ongoing industrial action, in which solicitors have withdrawn services in a row over changes to fees for District Court legal aid cases.
Just before he was remanded in continuing custody, he told Judge Patricia Cronin he wished to address the court. He said, via video link, he was from an Islamic country and had been tortured because “all my life, I said no”.
“I did not accept Islam; I said Islam is not my religion; they wanted to hang me, the radical Islamic religion of Iran. I escaped in 2016, from prison to start a new life,” he said.
The judge, noting he had no legal representation, cautioned him about the risk of self-incrimination.
He then changed subject and raised his inability to contact his family in his homeland, who do not know he is in custody in Ireland.
Gardaí have retained his phone as an exhibit. However, Garda Shane Costello told Cronin he had not been able to recover their numbers, but he would make further efforts.
It had already been held that the case should be transferred to the Circuit Court, which has broader sentencing powers. Prosecutors must serve him with a book of evidence before the granting of a return for trial order.
He will appear again on August 12th next.
