At least eight inmates have died in a fire at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, amid protests in Iran sparked by the death a month ago of young girl Mahsa Amini, an official source said on Monday.
“Four people (wounded) died in hospital, bringing the death toll to eight”, all convicted of theft, said Mizan Onlinethe site of the Judicial Authority.
The authorities accused “thugs” of having “set fire to a clothing warehouse on Saturday evening” in the prison and reported clashes between prisoners and then between detainees and guards who intervened to put an end to the violence, before a “return to the normal “.
“What happened in Evin prison was a crime committed by some elements (linked to) the enemy,” said the head of the Judicial Authority Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, without further details.
Iranian leaders accuse the West, including the United States, Iran’s sworn enemy, of fomenting the “riots”, in reference to the demonstrations following the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, 22, arrested three days earlier by the morality police in Tehran.
Iran’s official Irna news agency said the unrest in Evin had “nothing to do” with the protests, which entered their 5e week despite the repression which left at least 122 dead, including children, according to a latest report from Iran Human Rights (IHR) based in Oslo.
After the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, the European Union imposed sanctions on Iran, targeting 11 Iranian officials, including the Minister of Information and Communications Technologies, Issa Zarepour, and four entities, including the morality police. They will be subject to a visa ban and an asset freeze by the EU.
In advance, Iran had warned that it would react “quickly” to the EU measures, described as an “irrational act”.
” Bad treatments “
Hundreds of people arrested during protests against the death of Mahsa Amini have reportedly been sent to Evin prison. Among them, demonstrators but also journalists, intellectuals, activists, artists, lawyers…
NGOs have questioned the authorities’ version of the disturbances at the detention center known for its mistreatment of political detainees and where foreigners are imprisoned.
“Given how normal lying by official officials has become, we do not accept official explanations,” IHR said, citing reports that guards had sought to encourage prisoners.
On videos posted on social networks, gunshots and the sound of explosions were heard the evening of the fire near the prison.
After the disaster, NGOs as well as the United States and France expressed concern for the prisoners, but several foreign prisoners were able to contact their families.
Among the foreigners in Evin are the French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah and the American Siamak Namazi, who are safe. As well as the Austrians Massoud Mossaheb and Kamran Ghaderi. An Italian globetrotter detained in Evin is also doing well.
“We are all Mahsa”
Iranian free speech activist Hossein Ronaghi, called his mother from Evin, where he has been detained since September, and “could barely speak”, his brother Hassan wrote on Twitter. His family claims he was abused.
“We are appalled by the conditions to which activist Hossein Ronaghi is subject and he must be released. He suffered torture, observed a hunger strike and there was the fire,” said the NGO for the defense of freedom of expression Article 19.
According to an Iranian lawyer, Saeid Dehghan, 19 lawyers who wanted to defend those arrested during the demonstrations had also been arrested.
The wave of protest in Iran is the largest since that of 2019 against the rise in the price of gasoline in this oil-rich country.
The death of Mahsa Amini, whom the police accused of having broken the strict dress code imposing the wearing of the veil for women, was the spark of the movement.
Since September 16, Iranian women, many bareheaded, have been at the forefront of the movement. Again on Sunday, women demonstrated at the Shariati Technical and Vocational College in Tehran, chanting “We are all Mahsa”, according to the IHR.