Evin Prison in Tehran has resumed partial operations despite sustaining heavy damage during the recent 12-day war between Israel and Iran, The New York Times reported on Saturday. About 600 male prisoners, many of them political detainees, have been returned to two refurbished sections of the facility.
Iranian media reported that the restored sections now have replaced windows and doors, and cleared debris. However, the majority of the facility remains unusable, The New York Times noted,
The June 23 Israeli airstrike destroyed key parts of Evin, including its administrative buildings, hospital, visitation areas, recreational facilities, and several residential blocks. These sections have not yet been rebuilt, New York Times reported, citing testimonies from prisoners, their families, lawyers and human rights advocates.
Iran’s Health Ministry said the attack was the deadliest single incident of the conflict, killing 80 people and injuring dozens more. Victims included detainees, prison staff, healthcare workers, visiting relatives, the facility’s chief prosecutor, a child, and at least one bystander.
Authorities had previously relocated all 1,500 prisoners, including women, to other facilities outside Tehran. The return of male inmates earlier this month came without warning and occurred despite a lack of essential services, according to The New York Times.
Rights groups, inmates describe abusive conditions
One returned prisoner, Behzad Panahi, who is accused of spying for India, declared a hunger strike in protest over the prison’s conditions. He described the environment as a “dark dungeon” that failed to meet basic standards of human habitation, The New York Times noted.
Judiciary spokesperson Ali Asghar Jahangiri said on August 8 that the head of the judiciary had issued immediate instructions to prepare the prison for reoccupation following the Israeli strike. Iranian officials have indicated the rapid reopening was meant to project strength in the face of Israeli aggression.
While male inmates have returned to Evin, female prisoners have not yet been transferred back. Officials told The New York Times that the plan is still to return all inmates.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemned the Israeli strike, calling it a potential war crime and demanding independent investigations. The groups also criticized Iranian authorities for moving prisoners back into a facility that lacks basic infrastructure.
Nearly 20 prisoners said in online statements that they were shackled and beaten during both the evacuation and their return.
Legal experts and rights organizations said that returning inmates to a site lacking ventilation, air-conditioning, and medical services during the summer heat placed them at serious risk. According to The New York Times, Canadian-based human rights lawyer Saeid Dehghan said Iranian law prohibits detaining prisoners in facilities without sanitation and healthcare.
On August 7, inmates were informed by guards that they would be transferred back the following day. When several political prisoners refused to be shackled, citing fears of mistreatment, a confrontation reportedly took place.
In a joint statement, 19 inmates accused guards of using violence during the transfer, including against elderly detainees such as 80-year-old Abolfazl Ghadyani and 68-year-old Mostafa Tajzadeh, a former deputy interior minister. The judiciary denied that any mistreatment occurred, The New York Times reported.
Tajzadeh’s wife, Fakhri Mohtashamipour, visited him at Evin last week and described the facility to The New York Times as largely destroyed. Her visit took place in a temporary cabin set up among the rubble. She said prisoners still do not have access to their personal belongings and that the current wards are unsuitable for long-term detention.