A photo obtained by AFP outside Iran shows a burning trash can in the middle of an intersection during a protest for Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being beaten by the Islamic Republic’s “moral police”. arrested, in Tehran on September 20, 2022.
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A fire broke out Saturday at Tehran’s Evin prison, which holds many Iranian political and binational prisoners, and witnesses said gunfire was heard.
State news agency IRNA said eight people were injured in unrest that erupted after nearly a month of protests across Iran over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman.
The protests have posed one of the most serious challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution, with protests spreading across the country and some calling for the leader’s death. Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
A statement by Iran’s judiciary said a prison workshop was set on fire “after an altercation between several prisoners convicted of theft and financial crimes”. Tehran’s fire service told state media the cause of the incident was under investigation.
The prison, located in the foothills on the northern edge of the Iranian capital, holds criminal criminals as well as political prisoners.
“The roads leading to Evin prison have been closed to traffic. There are many ambulances here,” a witness contacted by Reuters said. “However, we could hear gunfire.”
Another witness said inmates’ families had gathered in front of the prison’s main entrance. “I could see fire and smoke. Lots of special forces,” the witness said.
A security official said calm had been restored at the prison, but the first witness said ambulance sirens could be heard and smoke was still billowing over the prison.
“People from nearby buildings were chanting ‘Death to Khamenei’ from their windows,” the witness said.
Early on Sunday, IRNA made a video showing prison areas damaged by fire. Firefighters were seen washing debris with water, apparently to prevent the fire from rekindling.
The prison mainly houses detainees facing security charges, including dual Iranian nationals. It has long been criticized by Western human rights groups and blacklisted by the US government in 2018 for “serious human rights violations”.
Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American jailed for nearly seven years on espionage-related charges dismissed as unfounded by Washington, returned to Evin on Wednesday after being granted a brief, lawful permit. said his teacher.
According to human rights lawyer Saeid Dehghan, other US citizens detained in Evin include environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, who is also a British citizen, and businessman Emad Shargi.
He added that several other dual nationals were held at Evin, including Franco-Iranian scholar Fariba Adelkhah and an Iranian-Swedish disaster medicine doctor Ahmadreza Djalali.
When asked about the prison fire, US President Joe Biden told reporters during a campaign trip to Portland, Oregon: “The Iranian government is very oppressive.”
He said he was amazed at “the bravery of the people and women in taking to the streets” during the recent protests and had great respect for them. “It’s really great,” he added. “They’re not a good group, in government.”
US State Department spokesman Ned Price tweeted, “We are following reports from Evin Prison with urgency. We are contacting the Swiss as their defense force. Iran is fully responsible for the safety of our wrongfully detained citizens, who will be released immediately.” “
Human Rights Watch has accused prison authorities of using threats of torture and indefinite imprisonment, as well as lengthy interrogations and denial of medical care to detainees. detention.
An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Tasnim news agency: “No security (political) prisoners were involved in today’s clashes between prisoners, and the security prisoner zone is basically separate. and far from the zone for thieves and those convicted of financial crimes,” an unnamed official told Tasnim news agency.
‘Missing cleric’
The unrest at Evin prison comes after nearly a month of protests across Iran since Amini – a 22-year-old woman from the Kurdish region of the country – died on September 16 while in custody for “inappropriate attire”.
Although unrest does not appear close to overthrow the systemThe protests have expanded into strikes that have forced shops and businesses to close, touching energy field and inspire brazen acts of dissent against Iran’s religious regime.
On Saturday, protesters across Iran chanted in the streets and in universities against the country’s clerical leaders.
A video posted by the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group purports to show demonstrations in the city of Mashhad, Iran’s second most populous city, with protesters chanting “The cleric is killed lost” and drivers honked their horns.
Videos posted by the group show a strike by shopkeepers in the northwestern Kurdish city of Saqez – Amini’s hometown. Another video on social media shows high school girls chanting “Women, Life, Freedom” in the streets of Sanandaj, the provincial capital of Kurdistan.
Reuters could not independently verify the videos. Phone and internet services in Iran were regularly disrupted last month, and internet watchdog NetBlocks reported “a new major disruption” shortly before Saturday’s protests began.
The Iranian activist’s news agency HRANA said in an online post that 240 protesters were killed during the unrest, including 32 minors. It said 26 members of the security forces were killed and nearly 8,000 were arrested during protests in 111 cities and towns and some 73 universities.
Among the casualties were teenage girls Their deaths have become a rallying cry for many protests demanding the fall of the Islamic Republic.
Protesters on Saturday called for demonstrations in the northwestern city of Ardabil over the death of Asra Panahi, an Azeri minority teenager who activists say has been taken by security forces. Ninh beat to death.
Officials denied the report and news agencies close to the Revolutionary Guard quoted her uncle as saying the high school student had died of heart disease.
