The sister of an Irish man being held in a grim prison in Iran for allegedly taking photographs of police officers has told how he is going blind.

Bernard Phelan from Clonmel, County Tipperary, was seized while travelling in the north-eastern city of Mashhad on 3rd October during anti-government protests.

He was detained for allegedly taking photographs of police officers and a mosque that had been burned.

He maintains that he is not guilty of “providing information to an enemy country”, for which he was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.

His sister, Caroline Masse-Phelan, revealed on 25th March: “He has several health issues, cardiac and bone issues.

“But also he is going blind because he had an operation last summer which was fine and went well but it hasn’t been treated so he can’t see very far anymore and he is very concerned that won’t be repairable when he comes home.”

Bernard, 64, is a travel consultant who lived in Paris prior to his last visit to Iran, which he had been visiting since 2017, and also holds French citizenship.

Caroline revealed that prison doctors want to increase his blood pressure medication “but he fears their competency” and has refused the additional dosage.

She also revealed that her brother has become despondent after such a long time behind bars, despite close contact between the governments of Ireland and Iran.

She said: “He knows we are talking to the media, but again he doesn’t see any fruit to that. He regularly tells us that he doesn’t know how long he can hold on.”

Bernard’s relatives are doing all they can to try to get him released from prison on humanitarian grounds.

The family has launched an online petition, which can be signed at www.releasebernardphelan.com.

And it will hold a vigil outside the embassy of Iran in Dublin on 30th March.

Caroline earlier told of the moment her brother was arrested, saying: “He was hauled off the road, bag over his head.”

Conditions inside the jail where he is being held are believed to be grim, with 16 people sharing a cell and freezing temperatures at night.

Some of his fellow inmates are believed to have been executed since he entered the prison.

Tehran is accused of detaining foreign nationals in order to use them as “bargaining chips” in negotiations with the West.