Irish man Bernard Phelan, who was released from an Iranian jail in May, has said he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following his ordeal, during which he was told he would “die in prison”.
The 64-year-old, originally from Clonmel, Co Tipperary, and who also holds French citizenship, was detained in Iran in October last year, on what was his fifth trip to the country.
The Paris-based tourism consultant was arrested while travelling and was held in Mashhad in northeastern Iran. He had been charged with offences related to sending information to a foreign state, which he denied.
He was given a six-and-a-half-year sentence with no amnesty for the charge brought against him, despite a judge telling him beforehand that he faced three years and could be given a pardon due to his ailing health.
Speaking to RTÉ News, Mr Phelan said that as a result of his ordeal, he now suffers from PTSD, saying that some everyday things can trigger bad memories, and that French authorities have assigned him a psychiatrist.
“I was at a dinner about a week ago and somebody was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt. I went white, and people asked me what was wrong, before I explained the prisoner workers and guards on religious holidays would wear long-sleeved black shirts. And that made me chilled,” he said.
“There are nightmares. I don’t sleep well, I’m on sleeping tablets – nightmares of being on the floor and being kicked by somebody. I wake up crying. It’s not easy,” he said.
Mr Phelan said he was detained one evening while travelling with his Iranian friend. His friend had wished to take photographs of mosques in Mashhad, before they were approached by a number of men.
His belongings were taken from him, and he was brought in for questioning for a number of hours, before he was then taken to an interrogation centre.
“That was the last time I saw my Iranian pal,” he said.
While in his cell, he said, he could hear beatings take place through the night. He said whilst in the interrogation centre, he slept on the floor with a blanket for around three weeks.
He was asked “strange questions” during his interrogation, ranging from the yellow vests movement in France, whether he was married, his favourite books and films, and whether he would adopt children.
“You never knew, when you were being taken out of the cell, whether you were going to interrogation or a walk in the yard by yourself. You never met any other prisoners … you just didn’t know walking down when you’re blindfolded with some guy holding you.”
Mr Phelan said the saddest day during the early days of his detainment was 10 October – the day he was due to fly back to France. He said the guards had told him they had “good news” for him – that he was to be transferred to the French.
“Of course, this was all a load of rubbish,” he said, adding that they were “very good at getting you to build up your hopes, and then smashing them. It’s what they did to my French counterpart. Telling him he was liberated, freed, and then at the last minute just before he walked out of the prison they said ‘no you can’t go out’.”
He said after his time in the interrogation centre, he spent three days handcuffed to a hospital bed, where he had been brought due to ill health, before being moved to a dedicated prison in Mashhad, where up to 30,000 people are held.
He described the experience there as “terrible”, as he shared a cell with 20 other people, adding that things got “tense” at times given the assorted mixture of prisoners.
His main worry in prison was the potential for trouble with other prisoners and concerns for his physical safety, as when there were arguments among prisoners, “you didn’t know what was going to happen”.
“It was so tense you didn’t know if things were going to explode. Would somebody hit somebody else? They probably wouldn’t hit us, but you might get caught up in a fight. You might try and hold somebody back and they might try to hit you,” he said.
He added: “I wasn’t afraid physically of the authorities, but they conducted what was called ‘white torture’, which is this whole system of building up your hopes and crashing them … it’s psychological torture.
“I got very pessimistic. I didn’t know if my health would stick up to this lifestyle of not great food, no exercise, just mentally cracking. My blood pressure was taken every day and sometimes it was very high.”
He said doctors at one stage pointed out the extent of how bad his back was, questioning whether he “walked from Ireland to Mashhad”.
‘Some scary moments’
He outlined that there were “scary” moments during his time in prison, and detailed the reality of being told he could die in prison.
“There were some scary moments. The most scary was in the cellar of the courthouse,” he said.
“The first judge I saw, they tried to force me to sign documents, all in Persian. And I wouldn’t sign them. They brought a guard in to persuade me and I said I wouldn’t … When I left the office of the judge, he said through his translator, ‘you will die in prison’.”
He added: “You’re then brought down to the cellars of the courthouse with other prisoners and you’re all wearing shackles and handcuffs. You try climbing three flights of stairs with shackles on your ankles, it’s very sore.
“You’re brought down to the basement with no artificial light, freezing cold, sitting on the floor, sitting on your plastic shoes to keep your rear end off the marble floor.”
Mr Phelan said another prisoner accused him of being a member of so-called Islamic State, before making a throat-slitting gesture.
“That really chilled me,” he said, adding that one of the prison workers had killed his mother, father, brother and sister with a knife.
“I didn’t know if I would get out in six months or six years.”
“You spend the day with these people,” he said, reiterating that the prisoners rather than the authorities were the bigger concern.
Mr Phelan said there were tears of joy once they finally left Iran. The pilot on the plane flying out of Mashhad told those on board that he would not be flying directly towards Europe, but instead finding the closest border to get out of Iranian airspace – Turkmenistan.
“He came out of the cockpit and said ‘we’re out of Iran’. There were tears, joy, laughing. The pilot and doctors were crying. Then I knew I was free,” he said.
“I knew I’d get out eventually, but I didn’t know if I would get out in six months or six years. I’d no idea.
“Dad was worried, the stress, it’s not easy on an old person. Most old people expect to have a quiet life, which my dad didn’t have.”
Bernard’s 97-year-old father Vincent could not hide his joy when recalling his son’s return home.
“I’m thrilled. He couldn’t have come home soon enough. We missed him so much. It was terrible to think that I could drop off any day and not see Bernard again. That was always in the back of my mind, as I was getting on at 97.
“We’re not going to leave him go again, we’ve to tie him down!”
While he said the Irish diplomatic response during his detainment was “more than decent”, Bernard Phelan questioned the follow-up from French officials in terms of ensuring he was in a good place, saying that “you arrive back and you’ve no money, nothing, lots of debt, and you’ve to borrow money”.
He added: “There’s nobody coming to you and saying ‘here’s some money, buy a suit and go to a restaurant’. My dentist was very nice, he checked me out and did some repairs for free, and my physiotherapist told me not to worry.
“I can’t understand, we were a pawn for the French, Irish and European governments.
“We discovered we were released because the Belgians released the Iranian prisoner they had, against four Europeans. So, we were sort of a pawn and we have nothing to show for that.
“Why isn’t there any help for us?”
On the Irish diplomatic response while he was detained, he said it was “more than decent”.
“I don’t know exactly what they did … the Irish and the Iranians have no particular reason for being angry with each other. I think I was just the wrong person, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”
He said he would not try to go back to Iran under the current regime, saying he probably would not even be given a visa.
“I have lots of very good friends in Iran and it’s very sad to think that I will probably never see them again … there are countries I can’t go to like Lebanon or Venezuela which are close friends of Iran. For the moment, it’s trying to build my life back up.
“It’s not easy. It is seven months out of my life.
“As one of the prisoners said, ‘a week in prison is like a year out of your life’, so I’m very old in that case.”
Source » rte.ie