Vincent Phelan, the 98-year-old Dubliner who campaigned for the liberation of his son Bernard when Bernard was arbitrarily imprisoned in Iran, has died.
Mr Phelan’s son Bernard was released from a six and-a-half year jail sentence in Iran in May this year, after an international campaign for his release spearheaded by his father Vincent, and assistance from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The Paris-based tourism consultant had been arrested in Mashhad in northeastern Iran and had been charged with offences related to sending information to a foreign state, which he denied. He suffered poor physical and mental health while in prison but in response to his father’s plea, he gave up a hunger strike.
Vincent Phelan lived to see his son go on to write a bestselling book, You Will Die in Prison (Ériu), which is named after a comment made by an Iranian Judge when Bernard refused to sign papers written in Persian, while in prison.
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Bernard and Vincent were received by President Michael D. Higgins at Áras an Uachtarain earlier this year.
Vincent Phelan died on Wednesday at Belmont Nursing home in Stillorgan. He had previously lived with his wife and three children in the Dublin suburb of Blackrock. He was predeceased by his wife Anne and son Declan and survived by Bernard and his daughter Caroline, as well as grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
Vincent Phelan’s funeral mass will be held in St. John the Baptist Church, Blackrock on Tuesday, 5th November
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