Breaking: Iran’s Enflamed Evin Prison Provokes Extreme Concerns
Defenseless Prisoners Barricaded Inside Embattled Prison
Editor’s update on Oct. 15, 7:01pm EST: A source in Tehran told CHRI that people were protesting near Evin Prison as of 2:25 AM, October 16 Tehran time. The source who request anonymity for security purposes added that an ambulance and bus went to the prison to transfer injured people to Adl Hospital, which is the closest hospital to the prison.
October 15, 2022 – Iranian authorities should immediately allow prisoners in Tehran’s Evin Prison—which was on fire and closed off to the public tonight with sounds of gunfire and explosions echoing outside its gates—to contact their families and lawyers to let them know they are safe, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said today.
“Prisoners, including countless political prisoners, are completely defenseless inside that prison,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
“Iranian authorities have repeatedly shown complete disregard for human life, and we are extremely concerned that prisoners are being killed as we speak,” said Ghaemi.
Families of prisoners who had traveled to the prison earlier in the day to inquire about their loved ones, as well as those who traveled there when the fire was first reported, were teargassed by state security forces, CHRI has learned.
All the streets and highways leading to Evin Prison, which is in western Tehran, have since been blocked and the prison and its surrounding area are completely inaccessible.
Iran’s State Prisons Organization and judiciary chief, which are responsible for the safety of all prisoners, are required by domestic and international to provide proper medical treatment to inmates.
“Preventable tragedies are occurring over and over again in the Islamic Republic as it kills, maims and detains innocent people with impunity to quell ongoing protests and force the Iranian people into submission,” said CHRI.
