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Four prisoners died in a fire that raged overnight in the Iranian capital’s notorious Evin prison, said the judiciary in the Islamic republic which has been rocked by a month-long protest movement sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.
“Four prisoners died due to smoke inhalation caused by the fire and 61 were injured,” the judiciary authority’s website Mizan Online reported, adding that four of the injured were in “serious condition”.
The fire — blamed on “riots and clashes” and later brought under control according to authorities — came as Iran has been rocked by protests over the death of 22-year-old Amini after her arrest for violating Iran’s strict dress code for women.
Evin, infamous for the ill-treatment of political prisoners, also holds foreign detainees and thousands facing criminal charges. Hundreds of those arrested during the recent demonstrations have reportedly been sent there.
It said authorities had closed off roads leading to the prison in an apparent bid to stop protests taking place outside the jail.
“Prisoners, including political prisoners, are completely defenceless inside that prison,” said Hadi Ghaemi of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
Iranian rights activist Atena Daemi, herself a long-time inmate of Evin, wrote on Twitter that in the early hours of Sunday several buses and ambulances were seen leaving the prison.
The judiciary’s Mizan Online said late Saturday that the fire at the prison had been extinguished.
The four inmates who died had been convicted of robbery, Mizan said.
Namazi’s US attorney Jared Genser said he had now spoken to his family and that he was unharmed.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that Iran was “fully responsible for the safety of our wrongfully detained citizens”.
The prison has been dubbed “Evin University” because of the sheer number of intellectuals held there.
Rights groups reported night-time protests in Tehran in solidarity with Evin detainees, after angry demonstrators had rallied across Iran on Saturday despite internet cuts.
Jeering protesters hurled projectiles at security forces in Hamedan city, west of Tehran, in footage verified by AFP, and protesters were also seen in the northwestern city of Ardabil in videos shared on Twitter.
Amnesty International has slammed an “unrelenting brutal crackdown” that has included an “all-out attack on child protesters” leading to the deaths of at least 23 minors.
The crackdown has drawn international condemnation and sanctions against Iran from Britain, Canada and the United States.
Iran on Sunday shrugged off recent criticism by US President Joe Biden.
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Originally published as Iran says four inmates killed in fire at Tehran prison
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