Death toll in clashes, fire at Iran's Evin Prison rises to 8

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN (AA) - Four more prisoners injured in clashes and a fire at Tehran's high-security Evin Prison on Saturday night have died, taking the death toll to eight, the country's judiciary announced on Monday.

In an early morning statement, the Iranian judiciary's media center said the four inmates died at a hospital due to the "severity of their condition," while six others remain under treatment.

It said all eight victims were serving prison sentences for crimes related to theft and that their families had been informed of their death.

On Sunday evening, the judiciary announced that four prisoners had died and 61 others sustained injuries in the incidents.

The deaths occurred due to the "inhalation of smoke" as a result of the fire, the statement said.

Footage of the fire started circulating online at 9.10 p.m. local time (1740GMT) on Saturday, when plumes of smoke were seen rising from the compound, followed by the sound of explosions and gunfire.

State-run news agency IRNA initially reported clashes between inmates and staff at the prison, adding that some prisoners set a warehouse of clothes on fire, putting number of the injured at eight.

On Sunday, conflicting reports emerged about the incident, with the semi-official agency Fars News saying that some prisoners tried to escape and inadvertently stepped on a minefield in the hills north of the prison, causing the loud explosions.

The escape attempt, the report stated, happened after clashes between two groups of prisoners in adjacent wards, during which a clothes warehouse and sewing unit were set on fire.

However, a report published by the semi-official agency Tasnim News, citing sources in the prison, rejected the account, saying no prisoner had entered the minefield.

In a separate report by Mizan News, affiliated with the country's judiciary, said an altercation broke out between inmates convicted for financial crimes and theft at a sewing workshop inside the prison.

It cited the Tehran prosecutor-general, saying that the ward where a fight broke out was far from the ward where security-related prisoners were held.

Evin Prison is the biggest detention center in the Iranian capital and holds thousands of prisoners, including many arrested in recent protests over the death of Mahsa Amini.

Many dual nationals are also held at the high-security prison north of Tehran, mostly those accused of spying for Western countries, including the US.

In a statement on Sunday, the US Department of State said it wasfollowing reports from Evin Prison "with urgency."

"We are in contact with the Swiss as our protecting power. Iran is fully responsible for the safety of our wrongfully detained citizens, who should be released immediately," the statement said.

The prison was last in the news in August 2021, when surveillance footage was leaked by hackers showing the beating of inmates by prison guards.