Sir, – The sentencing of Bernard Phelan to 6.5 years in prison in Iran on charges of “providing information to an enemy country” will come as a great worry to his family and close friends (“Irish man ‘held hostage’ in Iran sentenced to 6½ years, family say”, News, March 8th).
It is undoubtedly a cause for concern within the Irish Government.
Mr Phelan’s arrest, detention and sentencing is typical of many foreign nationals in Iran, where the regime has used them as bargaining chips with respective governments. It’s a business model that has served Tehran well since 1979, both domestically and by proxy in Lebanon during the 1980s.
It comes when the Iranian regime continues to oppress the nationwide protest movement.
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The large-scale anti-government demonstrations by the Iranian diaspora, throughout Europe and beyond, highlight a unified and determined stance against vicious oppression.
Earlier this year, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen backed listing the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation in a response to the “trampling of fundamental human rights”. Interestingly, the EU remains on the sidelines, with a suspicion that proscription of the IRGC would kill off the small chance of reviving the Iran nuclear deal.
In the past, the international community’s direct interference in Iranian affairs has often been counterproductive. There would appear to be a fine balance between supporting the Iranian people and confronting a brutish regime.
As a nation, we have the capability and maturity to make the correct calls. Irish influence in Brussels, combined with our recent experience on the UN Security Council, allows Ireland to help shape a safer future for the Iranian people.
As the protests appear to have died down for now, the Irish Government must stand in solidarity with ordinary Iranians and rule out any plan of reopening a full-time residential embassy in Tehran.
This will need to be balanced with the fact that an innocent Irish national, in failing health, faces a lengthy prison term. – Yours, etc,
COLIN LEE,
Ballinteer,
Dublin 16.