{"id":247997,"date":"2026-01-16T15:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/247997\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T15:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:05:07","slug":"iranians-in-ireland-fear-for-safety-of-loved-ones-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/247997\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranians in Ireland fear for safety of loved ones \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The killing of antigovernment protesters in Iran<\/a> by the country\u2019s regime has been described as \u201csickening\u201d and \u201cheartbreaking\u201d by Iranians living in Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many Iranians here have been unable to contact their loved ones since an internet blackout was imposed in Iran on January 8th.<\/p>\n

Dr Niloufar Omidi, a human rights lawyer based at the University of Limerick<\/a>, has not spoken to her family since then.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of my messages, they just have one tick, there\u2019s no double tick, so it means that they were not delivered. It is a very worrying situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Omidi said watching the mass killing of her fellow Iranians in recent weeks has been \u201cheartbreaking\u201d.<\/p>\n

More than 2,500 people have been killed, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, but the death toll is expected to rise significantly.<\/p>\n

Dr Omidi said the internet shutdown is \u201cbeing used deliberately by the government to suppress people, isolate them, and intensify fear\u201d.<\/p>\n

The lack of connectivity \u201cprevents protesters from acting collectively and sharing updates\u201d and suppresses real-time reporting, \u201climiting public awareness and international scrutiny\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cPast protests show a clear pattern: when authorities shut down the internet, mass killings often follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0US Gulf allies warnings play key role in Trump\u2019s stepping back from Iran interventionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Dr Omidi, who has lived in Ireland since 2013, has not been able to return to Iran in a decade due to safety concerns.<\/p>\n

She was unable to attend her mother\u2019s funeral last year and her husband\u2019s funeral in 2021; he died while in Iran during the Covid-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel compelled to speak out. As a human rights lawyer, I have a duty to advocate for those whose rights are being violated. They are risking their lives just for freedom,\u201d Dr Omidi said.<\/p>\n

Roshin, who did not wish to share her surname, has lived in Ireland for 15 years and is an Irish citizen. <\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t sleep the last few days at all,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe action of the Islamic Republic at the moment \u2013 in slaughtering thousands of its own citizens \u2013 goes against the core values of the Iranian people. It is a sickening act of any regime, murdering its citizens for just exercising their own basic rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

In late December, protesters took to the streets to express their anger at the country\u2019s economic instability \u2013 rising inflation left many struggling to afford necessities. The demonstrations quickly grew as people called for the removal of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has served as the supreme leader of Iran since 1989.<\/p>\n

Roshin said the Islamist regime which took over the country following the 1979 revolution, has survived through \u201cfear, torture, censorship and mass killing\u201d.<\/p>\n

She compared the ongoing protests to the Women, Life, Freedom movement that occurred in Iran in 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini<\/a>, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested by so-called morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab correctly.<\/p>\n

The regime brutally cracked down on the mass demonstrations that followed, killing hundreds of protesters. <\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, the situation, it\u2019s got worse and worse and worse,\u201d Roshin said.<\/p>\n

Dr Omidi agreed, saying the current crackdown \u201creflects an even more brutal, systematic and far-reaching level of repression and violence\u201d than what occurred in 2022. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Iran\u2019s younger generation \u2018no longer believes in revolutionary slogans\u2019 as unrest spreadsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

She said women have long been \u201cat the intersection of oppression in Iran\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a deep gap between the enormous potential of women in Iran and the opportunities actually available to them \u2013 whether in education, employment or public life \u2013 which can explain why so many women are at the front lines of the protests,\u201d Dr Omidi said.<\/p>\n

Some protesters have called for Reza Pahlavi, Iran\u2019s exiled crown prince, to act as an interim leader.<\/p>\n

Mr Pahlavi moved to the US as a teenager in the 1970s. The 1979 revolution resulted in the collapse of the monarchy, then led by his father, and he never returned.<\/p>\n

In recent days, Mr Pahlavi called on Iranians to \u201cseize city centres\u201d and prepare for his return.<\/p>\n

Roshin said some protesters view Mr Pahlavi \u201cas a unifying democratic figure\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about restoring the monarchy, it is about the transition,\u201d she said, adding that Iranians should be able to \u201cchoose their own future\u201d via democratic elections. <\/p>\n

Dr Omidi hopes Iranians \u201cwill be empowered to determine their own destiny\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny sustainable change in Iran must come from the people themselves, risking their lives every day for freedom. A future cannot be imposed from above. Democracy has a bottom-up approach,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Both women called on the international community, including Ireland, to support the Iranian people. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe DNA of this regime is dictatorship, and we need some international help,\u201d Roshin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland has a strong moral and human rights reputation globally … Historically, Ireland has stood with oppressed people. We want the support and solidarity of Irish people.\u201d<\/p>\n

A protest in solidarity with the Iranian people will take place outside the Embassy of Iran in Dublin at 2pm on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The killing of antigovernment protesters in Iran by the country\u2019s regime has been described as \u201csickening\u201d and \u201cheartbreaking\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,11829,60,43,101139],"class_list":["post-247997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-iran","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-university-of-limerick-ul"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}