Iranian Democratic Diaspora
Network in Ireland

By the Iranian Democratic Diaspora Network in Ireland (IDDNI) — 25 May, 2026

The Iranian Democratic Diaspora Network in Ireland (IDDNI) strongly condemns the Irish Government’s decision to proceed with the accreditation of the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran on 21 May 2026.

Earlier this year, on 13 January 2026, the Department of Foreign Affairs postponed the same ceremony because of the “very significant number of Iranians killed or injured and a communications blackout” following the regime’s brutal crackdown on protests in Iran. At the time, many Iranians in Ireland welcomed this decision as a recognition that normal diplomatic symbolism could not continue amid mass repression.

The question now is: what has changed?

Since January, the human rights situation in Iran has not improved; it has deteriorated further. Executions continue at an alarming rate, including against political prisoners and protesters. Human rights organizations and international bodies, including Amnesty International, and the United Nations, have repeatedly warned about arbitrary executions, torture, and systematic repression in Iran.

During the nationwide uprising of 8 and 9 January 2026 alone, according to numerous reports, security forces killed tens of thousands of Iranians and arrested tens of thousands more. Across multiple uprisings in recent years, Iranians have repeatedly risked and lost their lives to make clear that they no longer want this regime.

At the same time, the Islamic Republic has continued to act as a destabilizing force internationally. In recent months, the regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have further expanded tensions and insecurity in the region, including around the Strait of Hormuz, threatening international maritime security and global stability. Given both the domestic repression and the regime’s broader regional conduct, it is difficult to understand why Western governments are once again moving toward appeasement and normalization.

Against this backdrop, the accreditation ceremony sends a deeply troubling symbolic message to Iranians both inside Iran and across the diaspora especially in Ireland. Diplomatic engagement may at times be presented as a necessity of international relations, but celebratory public symbolism is not.

IDDNI was particularly disturbed by the image of President Catherine Connolly smiling warmly alongside the representative of a regime responsible for severe and ongoing human rights abuses. At a moment when many Iranians are mourning executions, repression, and imprisonment of loved ones, such imagery was painful and unnecessary. This is especially contradictory given President Connolly’s strong and vocal public positioning on international human rights issues.

We are concerned that this reflects a broader international pattern. From renewed diplomatic engagement to discussions of political and economic deals, Western governments once again appear willing to normalize relations with a regime that lacks legitimacy among its own people. This same strategy of accommodation and appeasement has failed for decades.

IDDNI calls on Irish political representatives, civil society organizations, media, and the broader public to take a clear stance on human rights and democratic values in relation to Iran. In democratic countries, public opinion matters. If there is a moment for Irish allies to stand with the Iranian people, it is now.

We invite members of the public to join our peaceful protest outside the Dáil on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. We also encourage people to contact their elected representatives and express their opposition to the normalization of relations with a regime that continues to violently repress its own population.

About IDDNI

The Iranian Democratic Diaspora Network in Ireland (IDDNI) is a multi-ethnic, non-partisan, female-led network of Iranians based primarily in Galway and Limerick, with members in Dublin and Cork. https://iddni.com/

By the Iranian Democratic Diaspora Network in Ireland (IDDNI) — 13 April, 2026

As ceasefire talks and diplomatic negotiations involving Iran might continue behind closed doors, one fundamental truth remains: the Iranian people are absent from the table where their future is being decided. This is not a technical oversight. It is a political failure with profound human consequences.

A newly formed Iranian diaspora network in Ireland — the Iranian Democratic Diaspora Network in Ireland (IDDNI), a female-led, non-partisan and multi-ethnic initiative based in Galway, Limerick, Dublin, and Cork — is warning that international diplomacy is once again repeating a familiar and dangerous pattern: engagement with power while excluding the people it governs.

For over four decades, Iranians have lived under a political system that severely restricts fundamental freedoms and suppresses any form of political opposition through intimidation, imprisonment, and execution. Women, in particular, face systematic discrimination and control over their bodies and lives — a reality described by activists and human rights organisations as gender apartheid. Ethnic and religious minorities are also subject to persistent discrimination and disproportionate repression. The scale of state violence is stark: Iran executed at least 1,639 people in 2025 — an average of more than four executions per day — according to a joint annual report by Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty.

Through repeated cycles of protest, and especially in the most recent nationwide uprising, Iranians have risked their lives to demand freedom, dignity, and an end to the current regime. Each wave has been met with violent crackdowns, including mass arrests, executions, and lethal force against civilians.

The United Nations Fact Finding Mission has found that the Islamic Republic committed crimes against humanity during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests. Just three months ago, large-scale killings of protesters once again underscored the scale of state violence with tens of thousands of people killed, injured, or detained. Several human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have described the January crackdown as a massacre of civilians, marking one of the most severe episodes of state violence against protesters in recent history. At the same time, repression continues to escalate. At least 14 political prisoners have been executed since the beginning of the war, and thousands more remain detained following recent protests and conflict.

Despite this, the points currently proposed in ceasefire discussions and negotiations make no meaningful reference to human rights, the protection of Iranian lives, or their democratic aspirations. Nor do current diplomatic frameworks include mechanisms to ensure that civilian protection or human rights are meaningfully embedded in the negotiation process.

This absence is not neutral — it is consequential. When international negotiations focus exclusively on state actors while excluding civil society, they risk reinforcing the very structures that produced instability in the first place. The result is not peace, but the managed containment of conflict at the expense of those living under repression. The network warns that many Iranians now fear being abandoned to a weakened but vengeful regime — one that may once again turn its violence inward.

European responses to the regime’s longstanding pattern of human rights violations have remained largely rhetorical — often limited to statements of concern and modest sanctions. This restraint has carried grave consequences. By prioritising geopolitical stability over accountability, Europe has effectively signalled that the regime can act with impunity.

Europe, including Ireland, cannot afford to treat Iran purely as a geopolitical file managed through security and energy concerns. It is also a human rights issue — one that directly concerns the legitimacy of any future settlement.

IDDNI is therefore calling on Irish and European policymakers to adopt a simple but essential principle: no sustainable diplomatic engagement with Iran can exclude the Iranian people themselves. This means embedding human rights monitoring, civil society consultation, and diaspora representation into any framework of engagement. It also means recognising that legitimacy in Iran is not defined solely by state power, but by a population that has repeatedly demonstrated its desire for democratic change — at immense personal cost.

Silence, in this context, is not neutrality. It is a political choice — one that determines whose voices count, and whose are erased. If Europe is serious about long-term stability in the region, it must begin by ensuring that the Iranian people are no longer invisible in the negotiations that shape their future.

About IDDNI

The Iranian Democratic Diaspora Network in Ireland (IDDNI) is a multi-ethnic, non-partisan, female-led network of Iranians based primarily in Galway and Limerick, with members in Dublin and Cork.

The network was established to fill a critical gap in meaningful, informed engagement on Iran in Ireland and across Europe, ensuring that the voices, lived experiences, and democratic aspirations of the Iranian people are reflected in policymaking, public discourse, and media coverage. IDDNI works to provide evidence-based insights and to support constructive engagement by Irish and European actors in line with the pursuit of a secular democratic future for Iran.