In a Dublin courtroom, a man who says he fled Iran to escape execution for rejecting Islam now faces charges of setting fire to a mosque — a case that holds within it the long shadows of persecution, displacement, and the violence that ideological conviction, in any form, can produce. Saeid Khosroabadi, 41, was arrested after a June fire at the Faizan E Madinah Mosque on Talbot Street, and appeared at Cloverhill District Court unrepresented, speaking of torture and survival while prosecutors allege he expressed indifference to whether children perished in the flames. The case moves toward the
Dublin mosque arson accused claims he fled Iran to escape execution
Alleged arson attack on mosque with potential for child casualties; defendant claims prior torture and persecution in Iran.
They wanted to hang me. I escaped in 2016 to start a new life.
Mark
Why does his claim about fleeing Iran matter to how we understand what happened at the mosque?
Mimi
Because it complicates the story. He's not just a man accused of a crime—he's someone who says he was persecuted for his beliefs and came here seeking safety. Whether that's true or not, it's what he's asserting in court, and it sits alongside allegations that he didn't care if children died.
Mark
The gardaí say he told them he opposed sharia law in Ireland. What does that mean, exactly?
Mimi
It suggests he may have been trying to make a political or ideological statement through the fire. Not just random violence, but something he believed was justified or necessary. That's different from arson for profit or revenge.
Mark
He's sitting in court without a lawyer because of a strike. How much does that change what we're seeing?
Mimi
It changes everything about how we should read his words. A lawyer would have told him to stay silent. Instead, he's explaining himself to a judge who has to warn him he might be incriminating himself. We're seeing raw testimony, unfiltered, but also unprotected.
Mark
His family doesn't know he's in custody. That seems like a separate kind of isolation.
Mimi
It is. He's cut off from home, facing serious charges, without legal help, and his family has no idea where he is. That's a kind of vulnerability that exists alongside the seriousness of what he's accused of doing.
Mark
What happens next?
Mimi
The prosecutors serve the evidence. He appears again in a week. The case moves toward the Circuit Court, where the real trial will happen. And he remains in custody the whole time.
The Pulse
- A mosque on a busy Dublin street was set alight in the afternoon of June 29th, raising the spectre of a religiously motivated attack with potential for mass casualties.
- The man charged told gardaí he was an anti-Islam activist opposed to sharia law in Ireland and allegedly said he did not care if children died in the fire.
- Khosroabadi appeared in court without legal representation — a solicitor strike over legal aid payments left him to speak in his own defence, against a judge's caution.
- He described escaping an Iranian prison in 2016 after being tortured for rejecting Islam, framing himself as a victim of the very ideology he is accused of violently targeting.
- The case has been elevated to the Circuit Court for its seriousness, but proceedings are stalled until prosecutors serve the book of evidence; his family in Iran do not yet know he is in custody.
In a Dublin courtroom, a man who says he fled Iran to escape execution for rejecting Islam now faces charges of setting fire to a mosque — a case that holds within it the long shadows of persecution, displacement, and the violence that ideological conviction, in any form, can produce. Saeid Khosroabadi, 41, was arrested after a June fire at the Faizan E Madinah Mosque on Talbot Street, and appeared at Cloverhill District Court unrepresented, speaking of torture and survival while prosecutors allege he expressed indifference to whether children perished in the flames. The case moves toward the Circuit Court, where the full weight of the law will be brought to bear on a man whose own account of suffering does not diminish the gravity of what he is accused of doing to others.
Saeid Khosroabadi, a 41-year-old Iranian national living in Dublin's north inner city, appeared at Cloverhill District Court via video link on Wednesday, unrepresented and in custody, facing charges of arson and criminal damage that carry a maximum ten-year sentence. He was arrested after a fire was set at the doorway of the Faizan E Madinah Mosque on Talbot Street on the afternoon of June 29th. Bail was refused two days later.
With no solicitor present — Ireland's legal profession was engaged in industrial action over District Court legal aid payments — Judge Patricia Cronin cautioned him against speaking without representation. He spoke regardless. He told the court he had been tortured in Iran for rejecting Islam, that the authorities there had wanted to hang him, and that he had escaped from prison in 2016 to begin a new life. Court documents indicate gardaí had already recorded him describing himself as an anti-Islam activist who opposed sharia law in Ireland; they also alleged he told them he did not care if children had died in the fire.
The seriousness of the charges has seen the case transferred to the Circuit Court, though prosecutors must first serve Khosroabadi with a full book of evidence before proceedings can formally advance. He is due to appear again on August 12th. In the meantime, he raised a personal difficulty with the court: his family in Iran do not know he is in custody, and gardaí currently hold his phone as evidence, making it impossible for him to reach them. A garda told the judge he had not yet been able to retrieve the family's contact numbers from the device, though he said he would try. The case moved on. Khosroabadi remains in custody, waiting.
Saeid Khosroabadi sat in a Dublin courtroom on video link, unrepresented and facing a decade in prison, and told the judge something the gardaí had already heard: that he had escaped Iran in 2016 to save his life. He said he had been tortured. He said they wanted to hang him. He said all his life he had said no to Islam, and that rejection had nearly killed him.
Khosroabadi is 41, an Iranian national living on Seville Place in the north inner city. On June 29th, just before half past three in the afternoon, a fire was set at the doorway of the Faizan E Madinah Mosque on Talbot Street. Gardaí arrested him. He was charged with arson and criminal damage—offences that carry a maximum sentence of ten years. Bail was refused on July 1st. He remained in custody.
When he appeared at Cloverhill District Court on Wednesday, he had no solicitor. The legal profession in Ireland was in the middle of industrial action over changes to how they are paid for District Court work, and services had been withdrawn. The judge, Patricia Cronin, cautioned him about the dangers of speaking without a lawyer. He spoke anyway.
He told her he came from an Islamic country and had been tortured because of his rejection of the faith. "I did not accept Islam; I said Islam is not my religion; they wanted to hang me, the radical Islamic religion of Iran. I escaped in 2016, from prison to start a new life," he said through the video link. The gardaí, according to court documents, had already recorded that Khosroabadi described himself as an anti-Islam activist. They alleged he had told them he was opposed to sharia law in Ireland and that he did not care if children died in the fire.
The case has already been deemed serious enough to move from District Court to the Circuit Court, where judges have broader powers to sentence. Before that can happen formally, prosecutors must serve Khosroabadi with a book of evidence—the full case against him. That has not yet occurred. He will appear again on August 12th.
In the meantime, there is the matter of his family. Khosroabadi raised with the court that he cannot contact them in Iran, and they do not know he is in custody in Ireland. Gardaí have his phone as evidence in the case. A garda named Shane Costello told the judge he had not yet been able to recover the family's phone numbers from the device, though he said he would try again. The judge noted the difficulty but the case moved forward. Khosroabadi remains in custody, unrepresented, waiting for the evidence to be served and for his next court date to arrive.
Notable Quotes
I did not accept Islam; I said Islam is not my religion; they wanted to hang me, the radical Islamic religion of Iran. I escaped in 2016, from prison to start a new life.— Saeid Khosroabadi, speaking to Judge Patricia Cronin via video link
Allegedly told gardaí he was opposed to sharia law in Ireland and did not care if children died in the fire.— Court documents regarding Khosroabadi's statements to gardaí
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Crime & Justice