The lady mentioned the home windows of many close by properties had been shattered by the blasts and that locals could possibly be heard shouting “dying to the dictator.”


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Effectively into the early hours of Sunday morning, and after the fires had been reportedly extinguished, residents continued to report listening to further blasts.

Web and phone communications have been severely disrupted in Iran since anti-government protests erupted final month. On Saturday, the judiciary ordered telecom corporations to ban text-messaging companies, additional limiting the flexibility of Iranians to speak.

Saturday’s conflagration, the primary on the jail in latest reminiscence, occurred in opposition to the backdrop of nationwide protests that started in September after Mahsa Amini, 22, died whereas within the custody of the morality police. Ms. Amini was accused of improperly carrying a required head scarf, a violation of the regulation within the Islamic Republic.

Iranians, already on edge after greater than a month of protests, mentioned the hearth on the jail had solely elevated their anxieties. The households of detainees mentioned they feared not just for the protection of their family members, but in addition for themselves.

Human rights activists and organizations additionally expressed concern in regards to the security of the prisoners.

“Prisoners, together with numerous political prisoners, are utterly defenseless inside that jail,” Hadi Ghaemi, the chief director of the Middle for Human Rights in Iran, mentioned in a press release.

Talking on Saturday, in a stay chat on the social media app Clubhouse, Yasser Hashemi Rafsanjani, the youngest son of the previous president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, mentioned: “We’re watching the system lose management of safety, regardless of claims that they’re in management.”