Iran’s judiciary confirm Israel’s bombing of gate of Evin prison

The Guardian

Grainy CCTV footage showed the entrance exploding and the gate crumbling, with Iran’s judiciary confirming damage to parts of the prison. Relatives of prisoners told the Guardian there were injuries reported in wards four, seven and eight – where Reza was being held, though he was unharmed.

“Their heads are slightly injured from the force of the explosion, the blast wave caused their heads to hit the wall and swell,” said Hussein*, an Iran-based relative of the human rights lawyer Mohammed Najafi, who is imprisoned in ward four. “The prisoners are worried.”

The Guardian could not independently verify claims of injuries within the prison.

The Israeli defence minister’s office said the prison attack was part of a larger assault on “regime targets and government repression bodies in the heart of Tehran”.

Detainees and human rights activists have called for the temporary release of prisoners until fighting has stopped.

A group of detainees, including Reza, sent a letter to the head of Iran’s judiciary on Wednesday calling on him to temporarily release prisoners, citing an Iranian law that allows for conditional releases during war time.

“Prisons are not equipped with air raid warning systems, shelters or safe evacuation routes … especially ward eight of Evin prison, which is in an even more vulnerable state and does not even have a single fire extinguisher,” the letter read.

Mehraveh and other family members of detainees were not optimistic that the Iranian government would approve the releases, noting a pattern of increasing repression during times of crisis.

For Reza Younesi, whose 25-year-old brother Ali Younesi has been held in Evin prison since 2020, conditions have already got worse. On Wednesday, his family received news that Ali had been moved from Evin to an unknown location and that attempts by lawyers to locate him had proved fruitless.