Footage shows aftermath of blaze at Iran's hell-hole Evin prison

2022-10-16

Inside Iran’s hell-hole Evin jail ‘after it was torched by rioting prisoners’: Footage shows blaze aftermath in prison where hundreds of regime opponents are held after gunshots, explosions and chants of ‘death to the dictator’

A huge fire erupted at the notorious hell-hole Evin prison in Iran’s capital
Video from the jail showed scorched walls and ceilings in the sewing workshop
Iran says prisoners set fire to a warehouse full of uniforms, causing the blaze
The state claims the fire had ‘nothing to do with the recent unrest in the country’
The Evin prison blaze left at least nine people injured, according to reports

Video shows the aftermath of a huge fire that erupted at a notorious jail in Iran’s capital housing political prisoners and anti-government activists.

State-run IRNA aired footage of the blaze’s aftermath on Sunday, showing scorched walls and ceilings in a room it said was the upper floor of a sewing workshop at Evin Prison.

The news agency said on Sunday the situation was now calm and that the clashes at the prison had ‘nothing to do with the recent unrest in the country’. It also reported that at least nine people were injured.

Gunshots and the sound of explosions were heard during Saturday night’s blaze from inside the vast complex in northern Tehran which was smothered by smoke and illuminated by flames, according to footage posted on social media channels.

The fire came as Iran marked one month of protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been arrested for violating the country’s strict dress code for women.

Tehran Gov. Mohsen Mansouri alleged the fire was ’caused by a fight between some prisoners in a sewing workshop’. IRNA had reported Saturday that there were clashes between prisoners in one ward and prison personnel, citing a senior security official.

The security official said prisoners set fire to a warehouse full of uniforms, which caused the blaze. ‘Rioters’ were separated from the other inmates to de-escalate the conflict, the official alleged.

Meanwhile, rights groups warned on Sunday that the lives of prisoners are at grave risk in Evin prison in Tehran. The activists also reported protests in solidarity with Evin detainees late into the night on Saturday, after angry demonstrators had taken to streets across Iran despite internet cuts.

Video shows the aftermath of a huge fire that erupted at a notorious jail in Iran’s capital housing political prisoners and anti-government activists

A photo provided by Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) shows scorched steps following a Saturday night fire on the property of Evin prison in Tehran, Iran

State-run IRNA aired video of the blaze’s aftermath on Sunday, showing scorched walls and ceilings in a room it said was the upper floor of a sewing workshop at Evin Prison

Gunshots and the sound of explosions were heard during Saturday night’s blaze from inside the vast prison in Tehran which was smothered by smoke and illuminated by flames (pictured)

Gunshots and the sound of explosions were heard during Saturday night’s blaze from inside the vast Evin prison complex in northern Tehran which was smothered by smoke and illuminated by flames, according to footage posted on social media.

IRNA later reported that nine people had been injured, without elaborating. It published video showing burnt debris scattered around a building, with firefighters hosing down the embers.

Tehran prosecutor Ali Salehi said on Sunday that ‘peace’ had been restored at the prison and that the unrest was not related to the protests which have been sweeping the country.

But video showed protesters walking amongst traffic along roads leading to the prison, some lighting fires and chanting ‘death to Khamenei’.

A witness also said ambulance sirens could be heard and smoke still rose over the prison.

‘Roads leading to Evin prison have been closed to traffic. There are lots of ambulances here,’ the witness claimed. ‘Still, we can hear gunshots.’

Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was held in Evin for most of her 800-plus days behind bars in Iran, reported Sunday that she had heard that all the women political prisoners were safe.

Evin, located in the foothills at the northern edge of the Iranian capital, is infamous for the ill-treatment of political prisoners and also holds foreign detainees, as well as thousands of people facing criminal charges.

Hundreds of those arrested during the demonstrations over Ms Amini’s death have reportedly been sent there.

‘Evin Prison in Tehran is on fire and shots can clearly be heard. The life of every political and ordinary crime prisoner is at grave risk’, said the Oslo-based non-government group Iran Human Rights (IHR).

‘Prisoners, including political prisoners, are completely defenceless inside that prison,’ said Hadi Ghaemi, director of the US-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), expressing concern that ‘prisoners are being killed’.

Freedom of expression group Article 19 said it had heard reports of telephone and Internet connections at Evin being cut and that it was ‘extremely worried for the safety of Evin’s prisoners’.

IRNA published video showing burnt debris scattered around a building, with firefighters hosing down the embers

IRNA later reported that nine people had been injured, without elaborating. Firefighters are pictured as they battle the blaze at Evin prison

Tehran prosecutor Ali Salehi said on Sunday that ‘peace’ had been restored at the prison and that the unrest was not related to the protests which have been sweeping the country. Pictured: Flames and thick smoke rising from the Evin prison on Saturday night

Video showed protesters walking amongst traffic along roads leading to the prison on Saturday night, some lighting fires and chanting ‘death to Khamenei’

Iranian protesters gathered on a road leading to the Evin prison, in the northwest of the Iranian capital Tehran, on Saturday night

Protesters are pictured marching towards Evin prison on Saturday night after the fire broke out

CHRI reported that an ‘armed conflict’ broke out within the prison walls on Saturday night. It said shots were first heard in Ward 7 of the prison. This account could not immediately be corroborated.

Footage of the fire circulated online. Videos showed shots ringing out as plumes of smoke rose into the sky amid the sound of an alarm.

A protest broke out on the street soon after, with many chanting ‘Death to the Dictator!’ – a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – and burning tires, the videos showed.

Witnesses said that police blocked roads and highways to Evin and that at least three strong explosions were heard coming from the area.

Traffic was heavy along major freeways near the prison, which is in the north of the capital, and many people honked to show their solidarity with protests.

Riot police were seen riding on motorbikes towards the facility, as were ambulances and fire engines. Witnesses reported that the internet was blocked in the area.

Gunshots and the sound of explosions were heard during Saturday night’s blaze from inside the vast Evin prison complex in northern Tehran

Online videos appear to show smoke rising from Evin prison in Tehran, with gunshots and an alarm being heard on Saturday

Images on social media show a huge fire with large plumes of smoke visible in the sky

The prison, which mostly holds detainees facing security charges, has long been criticised by Western rights groups and it was blacklisted by the US government in 2018 for ‘serious human rights abuses’

An IRNA photo shows damage caused by a fire inside the building of the Evin prison

The prison fire occurred as protesters intensified anti-government demonstrations along main streets and at universities in some cities across Iran on Saturday.

Human rights monitors reported hundreds dead, including children, as the movement concluded its fourth week.

In the city of Sanandaj, a hotspot for demonstrations in the northern Kurdish region, school girls chanted ‘Woman, life, freedom’ down a central street.

Students rallied outside universities in Kermanshah, Rasht and Tehran, according to videos on social media.

The protests erupted after public outrage over the death Ms Amini following her arrest by Iran’s morality police in Tehran for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.

Iran’s government insists she was not mistreated in police custody, but her family says her body showed bruises and other signs of beating after she was detained.

The unrest has continued despite what Amnesty International has called an ‘unrelenting brutal crackdown’ that has included an ‘all-out attack on child protesters’ – leading to the deaths of at least 23 minors.

At least 233 protesters have been killed since demonstrations swept Iran on September 17, according to US-based rights monitor HRANA. The group said 32 among the dead were below the age of 18.

Earlier, Oslo-based Iran Human Rights estimated 201 people have been killed. Iranian authorities have provided no death toll for weeks.

A Revolutionary Guards commander said Saturday that three members of its Basij militia had been killed and 850 wounded in Tehran since the start of the ‘sedition’, IRNA said.

The crackdown has drawn international condemnation and sanctions against Iran from Britain, Canada and the US.

European Union countries agreed this week to level new sanctions, and the move is due to be endorsed at the bloc’s foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.

Iranian authorities have alleged without providing evidence that the unrest is a Western plot, trying to play down the demonstrations.

Public anger in Iran has coalesced around Ms Amini’s death, prompting girls and women to remove their mandatory headscarves on the street in a show of solidarity.

Other segments of society, including oil workers, have also joined the movement, becoming one of the greatest challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the country’s 2009 Green Movement.

Evin prison has seen multiple accusations of torture, rape and other inhumane treatment of prisoners

IRNA shares footage of a sleeping chamber inside the prison apparently captured before Saturday night’s blaze. it is unclear specifically when the interior footage were captured

A fire truck is pictured in front of the Evin prison after a blaze broke out on Saturday night

Damage caused by a fire outside the building of the Evin prison on Saturday night

Debris from the Evin prison fire is pictured outside the facility

A fence-like structure is pictured after having been damaged after a fire broke out inside the building of the Evin prison

Commercial strikes resumed on Saturday in key cities across the Kurdish region, including Saqqez, Ms Amini’s hometown, and the birthplace of the protests, Bukan and Sanandaj.

The government has responded with a brutal crackdown, arresting activists and protest organisers, reprimanding Iranian celebrities for voicing support, even confiscating their passports, and using live ammunition, tear gas and sound bombs to disperse crowds, leading to deaths.

An Iranian coroner claimed Ms Amini had died from illness, not police violence, and insisted two girls killed during anti-hijab protests ‘fell off roofs’ despite claims security forces beat the teenagers to death.

Ms Amini’s cousin, Erfan Mortezaei, has said that on the day she was arrested, she was forced into a police van and taken to the station where she was ‘tortured’.

‘There is a report from Kasra hospital [in Tehran] that says effectively by the time she reached the hospital she was already dead from a medical point of view,’ he told Sky News. ‘She suffered a concussion from a blow to the head.’

Footage emerged on Saturday which appeared to show a woman being seriously sexually assaulted by an officer during an arrest by police at a protest.

In a surprising move, Iranian officials have said they are looking into the incident.

Widely distributed video also showed plainclothes Basij, a paramilitary volunteer group, forcing a woman into a car and firing bullets into the air amid a protest in Gohardasht, in northern Iran.

Widespread internet outages have also made it difficult for protesters to communicate with the outside world, while Iranian authorities have detained at least 40 journalists since the unrest began, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Mahsa Amini, 22, died in police custody after being detained in Tehran by Iranian morality police who believed she was wearing her hijab too loosely

Students have rallied outside universities, according to videos on social media. Pictured: Iranian students chanting the national anthem during a sit-in at the Art University in the central city of Isfahan on Saturday

Footage emerged on Saturday which appeared to show a woman being seriously sexually assaulted by an officer during an arrest by police at a protest

Evin Prison, which holds detainees facing security-related charges including dual citizens, has been charged by rights groups with abusing inmates. The facility has long been known for holding political prisoners as well as those with ties to the West who have been used by Iran as bargaining chips in international negotiations.

Saturday’s scenes come just months after British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe was released from the infamous Evin prison by Iran after being detained on false charges in the capital for six years.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe landed back on British soil in March, along with fellow dual national Anoosheh Ashoori, after the UK finally agreed to settle a long-standing debt to Iran.

The 44-year-old was detained on security charges in 2016 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Imam Khomeini airport after a holiday to Iran during which she introduced her daughter to her parents.

She was accused of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, and denied spying charges.

Her release came after the UK agreed to settle a historic £400 million debt dating to the 1970s after five years in Iranian jail on propaganda charges.

Both countries have said the fine and the release of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe are issues that should not be linked.

Award-winning dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi and reformist politician Mostafa Tajzadeh are also among those believed to be held at Evin.

The prison has been dubbed ‘Evin University’ because of the sheer number of intellectuals held there.

Ms Zaghari Ratcliffe has spoken out about the unrest in Iran on multiple occasions

Siamak Namazi, (pictured) an Iranian-American who had been furloughed from prison while serving a 10-year sentence on internationally criticised spying charges, was recently sent back into Evin

Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American who had been furloughed from prison while serving a 10-year sentence on internationally criticised spying charges, was recently sent back into Evin.

His 85-year-old father, Baquer Namazi, was freed and allowed to leave the country.

A lawyer for Siamak Namazi, Jared Genser, wrote on Twitter early on Sunday that he ‘is safe and has been moved to a secure area of Evin Prison’. He did not elaborate.

In 2018, the prison was slapped with US sanctions.

‘Prisoners held at Evin Prison are subject to brutal tactics inflicted by prison authorities, including sexual assaults, physical assaults and electric shock,’ the US Treasury Department wrote in a statement after announcing the sanctions in 2018.

The US State Department was following the reports ‘with urgency’ and was in contact with the Swiss as the protecting power for the US, spokesman Ned Price said in a tweet on Saturday.

‘Iran is fully responsible for the safety of our wrongfully detained citizens, who should be released immediately.’

US President Joe Biden, on a trip to Oregon, said the Iranian ‘government is so oppressive’ and that he has an ‘enormous amount of respect for people marching in the streets’.

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