Bernard Phelan, an Irish man who was wrongly imprisoned for seven months in Iran, has said he and his family are continuing to suffer from the fall out of his traumatic time in captivity.
He said he had recently had a stroke and his doctor told him that this is a possible consequence of post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I thought Iran was behind me in terms of my suffering. And now it has come back again.
"And it's terrible for me and it's also terrible for my sister, Caroline, and my husband, Roland, to go through another terrible situation," Mr Phelan said.
Originally from Clonmel in Co Tipperary, Mr Phelan had been visiting Iran since 2017, first as a tourist and then developing trekking holidays.
He was arrested in October 2023, wrongly accused of providing information to an enemy country and spent seven months in an Iranian prison.
He went on hunger strike before his release in May 2023.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
The Iranian Embassy in Ireland confirmed that Mr Phelan, who is an Irish and French citizen, had been pardoned and released on consular and humanitarian grounds.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland from a hospital room while recovering from the stroke, Mr Phelan said his reunion with his father after his release was very moving as he was worried that his father would not live to see him return.
He said that thought haunted him while in prison.
He said that his father was "so happy" when he returned and he even had the opportunity to meet President Michael D Higgins.
Mr Phelan called for greater co-ordination in the EU to work towards the release of hostages.
He said while every country is different, the EU should be helping to release hostages.
"We are European citizens...the EU should be helping us, they’re not helping us," he said.
Bernard Phelan's story is being told in a documentary, You Will Day in Prison, being broadcast tonight on RTÉ 1 television at 10.35.
