This January 1987 photograph reveals Evin jail in Tehran, Iran.
AP
Iran’s infamous Evin Jail — house to political prisoners and different anti-government activists — was engulfed in flames Saturday as gunshots and explosions rang out amid nationwide protests.
A senior safety official informed Iranian state-run media that the “state of affairs is totally beneath management” following clashes between prisoners and jail employees on the Tehran facility.
Prisoners set hearth to a warehouse stocked with uniforms, which sparked the inferno, the official mentioned.
Tehran prosecutor Ali Salhi later mentioned that “peace” had returned to the jail, claiming the state of affairs was not associated to the bigger anti-government protests which have swept the nation for 4 weeks.
In movies circulating on-line, a number of gunshots might be heard as the fireplace rips by the jail, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky.
Different clips present folks yelling “demise to Khamenei” — referencing Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Witnesses reported listening to at the very least three massive blasts from the world of the jail, which was blocked off by safety officers.
Riot police have been seen on motorbikes heading towards the ability, which was surrounded by hearth vehicles and ambulances.
It’s not clear if anybody has been injured.
Not less than 233 protesters have been killed throughout Iran since Sept. 17, in line with U.S.-based rights monitor HRANA. The group mentioned 32 of the lifeless have been beneath 18-years-old. Earlier, Oslo-based Iran Human Rights estimated 201 folks had been killed.
The protests erupted after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody whereas in custody on an arrest by Iran’s morality police for violating state costume code. The federal government has insisted Amini was not mistreated in police custody, nevertheless her physique appeared bruised and overwhelmed, in line with Amini’s household.
Amini’s demise sparked widespread public outrage that has spilled into metropolis streets within the largest problem to the Islamic Republic’s authorities since 2009.
The federal government’s response to the protests has been harsh, together with mass arrests and the use tear fuel, sound bombs and stay ammunition to disperse demonstrators.
Evin Jail has a historical past of human rights abuses and holding Western political prisoners to make use of as bargaining chips in worldwide negotiations.
Human Rights Watch has accused jail officers of threatening inmates with torture and indefinite imprisonment, amongst different abuses.
The jail was sanctioned by the US in 2018.
“Prisoners held at Evin Jail are topic to brutal ways inflicted by jail authorities, together with sexual assaults, bodily assaults and electrical shock,” the U.S. Treasury Division wrote in an announcement after asserting the sanctions in 2018.
With Publish Wires
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