Supporters of a man jailed in Iran have demanded his release at a rally outside the country’s embassy in Ireland.
Family and friends of Bernard Phelan, a French-Irish citizen who was first detained last year, held the vigil on Thursday, mark his 178 days in prison.
His 97-year-old father Vincent sat down outside the embassy, a walking stick at his side, as sister Caroline Masse Phelan demanded action. Banners urged Iran to release Mr Phelan.
Campaigners attending the protest held yellow flowers and symbols of the Women Life Freedom feminist movement in Iran.
They said Mr Phelan, 64, needs medical care that is not being provided in the Iranian jail.
Mr Phelan, originally from Co Tipperary, was detained in Mashhad last year.
He has denied a charge of helping to incite propaganda against the government in Tehran.
Mr Phelan was sentenced to six and a half years in prison by authorities last month, his family have said.
Rights group Amnesty International called for his immediate release and raised concerns about the prison sentence.
“The authorities must also ensure that he is provided with regular phone calls to his family, access to a lawyer of his own choosing and unhindered regular consular assistance from the Irish and French,” Amnesty said on Thursday.
“He must also be provided with translations, including of key case documents, so that he is able to fully understand his rights.”
Mr Phelan was jailed during protests in which millions of people took to the streets after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, 22.
He works for an Iranian tour operator, lives in France and was travelling on a French passport at the time.
He was stopped after taking a photograph of a mosque in Mashhad.
He has been allowed only three brief phone calls, one to his father and two to his sister, his family said.
Since 2017 he has travelled back and forth once a year to Iran and was promoting the country as a tourist destination.
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'Midnights'
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
