Satellite images over Evin Prison reveal extent of widespread fire

Satellite images captured over Evin, one of Iran’s and the world’s most notorious and fearsome prisons, have revealed details of the extent of a widespread fire that occurred on the evening of Saturday, October 15.

Photos taken by Planet Labs satellite group, which were assessed by experts for the Associated Press news agency, show that the roof of one of the large structures in the northern section of Evin Prison was burned.

The Islamic Republic’s judiciary, which continues to claim that this structure was used for detaining inmates convicted of financial crimes and theft, confirmed on Monday, October 17, that the death toll from the fire has risen to eight. Earlier, reports indicated that 61 inmates in this ward were injured.

The situation at Evin Prison in northern Tehran captured the attention of Iranian people and international public opinion from Saturday evening onward after videos of the fire were circulated on social media. As videos spread showing the expansion of the flames and gatherings of worried families of inmates, world leaders also began commenting on the incident.

The videos first showed the sound of alarms at the prison, followed by rapid gunfire, and then echoing chants of “Death to the dictator.”

In many of the videos released about Saturday night’s events, long convoys of motorcycles, apparently carrying special forces personnel, were seen being dispatched from various parts of Tehran to Evin.

A day later, other videos were circulated on social media showing people on rooftops and around Evin’s structures pouring suspicious liquids onto the flames, which led to the rapid spread of the fire.

It is unclear who the people were that were pouring liquids before the fire spread, and if they are not prison guards or government security forces, how they gained access to this terrifying and highly secure complex.

Iran Prison Atlas, a project prepared by a human rights group in California regarding information about Iranian prisons and inmates, identified the structure that caught fire as a ward for inmates convicted of financial crimes, but the project’s officials said that wards have changed over recent years.

News teams sent by the Islamic Republic’s television news network, while accompanied by Tehran’s governor and several senior officials of Iran’s prison authorities, claimed that the fire resulted from conflicts among inmates in the financial crimes ward. In other contradictory reports, it was claimed that some inmates set the fire to escape.

Individuals who were previously detained at Evin Prison have emphasized that the footage produced by the Islamic Republic’s state media and officials’ statements are full of contradictions.

Mostafa Nili, a lawyer representing several political prisoners detained at Evin, told the newspaper “Etemaad” that one of the fire-damaged areas was Ward 8 of the prison, but said that in addition to some financial offenders, a number of political prisoners were also held in this location.

According to Mr. Nili, political prisoners held in Ward 4 of Evin were also affected by tear gas inhalation. Tasnim News Agency, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, also reported that Wards 6 and 7 of Evin sustained damage during Saturday night through Sunday morning.

Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje’i, head of the Islamic Republic’s judiciary, repeated on October 17 that “enemy agents” were involved in this incident.

Political prisoners at Evin have said that to protect dual-national inmates, the Islamic Republic evacuated them from the fire zone earlier than others; one of them was Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American citizen, to whose elderly father the Islamic Republic had granted permission to leave Iran two weeks earlier after years of detention.

Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American journalist for the Washington Post who himself was detained at Evin for around two years, wrote on his Twitter page that Evin is not an ordinary prison; many of Iran’s best and brightest minds are held in long-term detention at Evin; a place where brave women and men are deprived of their basic rights to speak truth to power.

Since the Islamic Republic came to power, Evin Prison has held tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of detainees, and based on inmates’ accounts over decades and numerous memoirs written by political prisoners, it has witnessed the execution of thousands of inmates and horrific torture of detainees. A small section of this prison is designated for non-political inmates.

Iranians regard Evin as one of the finest “universities” in terms of the number of intellectuals and brilliant minds held there. Currently, dozens of journalists, political activists and environmental advocates, and cultural figures and filmmakers such as Jafar Panahi are detained in this prison.

Since the start of the recent widespread protests in Iran, which have entered their second month, at least three severe and fatal incidents have occurred within prisons.

Before the Evin incident, it was first reported that Sanandaj Prison was attacked by guards on October 7, resulting in 61 wounded, and then extensive clashes occurred in Lakan Prison in Rasht, the full extent of which remains unclear.

Source: Radio Farda