CNN
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Particulars of a chaotic night time marked by tear gasoline and explosions have emerged from an Iranian jail following a lethal fireplace on the facility on Saturday.
A minimum of 4 inmates died of smoke inhalation and 61 others have been injured within the blaze at Tehran’s Evin jail, which started when prisoners set fireplace to a warehouse, state-run information company IRNA reported, citing Iranian authorities.
The notoriously brutal facility is thought for housing political prisoners within the nation, which has seen mass protests in current weeks in opposition to the Islamic regime that has dominated it for many years.
Award-winning movie director Jafar Panahi, 62, who’s among the many dissidents jailed at Evin, mentioned guards fired tear gasoline at inmates, in accordance with his spouse, Tahereh Saeedi.
In an interview with Radio Farda – the Iranian department of the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – Saeedi mentioned her husband referred to as her from the jail and instructed her that he and fellow jailed filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof are in good well being.
Saeedi added that from the time the hearth broke out Saturday night time to when she bought a name from her husband the subsequent day have been the worst hours of her life.
Activist group 1500tasvir reported earlier that, in movies posted on social media, gunshots have been heard and Iranian particular forces have been seen heading to the realm the place the jail is believed to be situated.
Sources contained in the jail instructed pro-reform outlet IranWire that guards fired tear gasoline all night time after the hearth broke out. In lots of instances, prisoners needed to break their home windows to so they may breathe, IranWire reported.
In a Twitter publish Sunday, human rights activist and former Evin inmate Atena Daemi mentioned tear gasoline was fired by safety officers, citing a girl prisoner.
Inmates on Ward 8 don’t have any water, gasoline, or bread and 45 of them have been transferred “to an unknown place,” Daemi mentioned. “Now everybody is okay, however they’re anxious about being transferred to different prisons, solitary confinement and interrogation.”
Many inmates had been transferred to Rajaei Shahr jail, about 20 kilometers west (12 miles) of Tehran, Mostafa Nili, a lawyer who represents quite a lot of prisoners, mentioned on Twitter. Video from IranWire reveals a bus taking prisoners away from Evin.
Jailed journalist Niloofar Hamedi can be secure following Saturday’s fireplace, in accordance with a tweet from her husband, Mohamad Hosein.
“She instructed me she didn’t know what had occurred at Evin final night time however mentioned that she heard the terrifying sounds and thought one thing horrible occurred,” Hosein mentioned his spouse instructed him, including she was doing effectively.
Hosein mentioned Hamedi is being held in Evin’s Part 209 – infamous for housing prisoners of conscience – and didn’t have details about different areas of the jail.
Iranian-American Siamak Namazi, who has been detained in Iran for seven years and was compelled to return to jail on Wednesday after briefly being launched on furlough, can be secure, in accordance with the Namazi household lawyer Jared Genser.
Namazi was moved to a safe space of the jail and has spoken to his household, Genser mentioned.
Talking earlier to state broadcaster IRIB, Tehran’s prosecutor Ali Salehi mentioned the “battle” on the jail was not linked to the protests which have swept the nation following the dying of a younger girl in police custody.
In September, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after she was detained by the nation’s morality police for allegedly not carrying her hijab correctly. Iranian authorities have since unleashed a brutal and lethal crackdown on demonstrators, who’ve united round a variety of grievances with the nation’s authoritarian regime.
“No prisoner is secure in Iran, the place persons are maimed and killed for criticizing the state,” the pinnacle of New York-based Unbiased Heart for Human Rights in Iran, Hadi Ghaemi tweeted Sunday. “Political prisoners in Evin & Iran must be freed. All prisoners ought to have correct medical remedy + entry to counsel/households.”
Ghaemi additionally urged the United Nations to carry Iran’s leaders accountable in a name echoed by Amnesty Worldwide secretary basic and former UN Particular Rapporteur Agnes Callamard.
A particular session of the UN Human Rights Council must be held to create a “UN investigative and accountability mechanism on Iran authorities and non secular authorities,” Callamard mentioned in a tweet Sunday, citing “far too many crimes in opposition to the Iranian individuals.”
