Iran’s detainees in ‘unbearable’ conditions after Israeli strikes

After one month of deadly Israeli air strikes against a notorious Iranian prison during the war between the two countries, the prisoners say they will keep in unbearable and inhuman circumstances after being transferred to other prisons.

Despite the promises made by the authorities, some of those who were transferred from Evin Prison in Tehran say they are continuing to face difficulties such as overcrowded cells, family deficiency and air conditioning, a limited number of toilets, bathing, and insect treatment.

BBC received accounts from the family of the prisoners who moved from Evin, who agreed to speak on the condition that his identity was not revealed out of concern for the safety of themselves and the prisoners.

Israel targeted Evin on June 23. According to the Iranian authorities, the attack was killed 80 people, including five prisoners, 41 prison staff and 13 military recruits.

The prison was detained by thousands of men and women, including prominent political dissidents, human rights defenders, journalists, double citizens and foreigners, as well as members of religious and ethnic minorities.

All guests were later transferred and sent to other prisons after the attack.

Videos that were verified and satellite images confirm the damage to several buildings inside the complex, including the medical clinic, the visitor center, the prosecutor’s office and an administrative building.

After the attack, the Israeli army described the prison as a “symbol of repression of the Iranian people.” She said she carried out strikes in a “accurate reduction in civilian harm”.

Iran described the attack as a “war crime.”

The Israeli army also said that Evin was used in “intelligence operations against Israel, including allergy.” He did not comment more when she was asked to make evidence of the claim.

Amnesty International said on Tuesday that, after an in -depth investigation, the attack was formed.A serious violation of international humanitarian law Criminal investigation must be as war crimes. “

He added, “Under international humanitarian law, it is assumed that a prison or place of detention is a civil being, and there is no reliable evidence in this case that Evin prison is a legal military target.”

Through his family members, one of the political prisoners who were sent to the Greater Tehran Prison, also known as the Faishavoi prison, said that his prisoners’ colleagues told him inhuman circumstances even before the transfer of Evin detainees.

He said that the prison was in a remote and dangerous area outside the capital that his wife was unable to visit him since he moved there.

Compared to Evin, which is located in a residential area in northern Tehran, Fashafouyeh is 20 miles (32 km) south of Tehran, in a desert that contains anything around it except the road, according to family members.

The prisoner told his family that many prisoners were still sleeping on the ground in Fashavoh in crowded cells without air conditioning, although the authorities have repeatedly said that they would improve the situation.

A video clip from inside the prison, which was verified by the BBC, shows a cell crowded with prisoners lying on the family and on the ground.

In one of the stages, a group of authorities came to prison to shoot a video aimed at showing that the prisoners were fine, but the other prisoners began to repeat “death for the dictator” – a popular protest slogan between Iranian opposition groups directed to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameyini – stopped them from photography.

Families of prisoners in Fashavoh said that political prisoners are now residing in the same cell of the accused or convicted of violent crimes. This is a tactic. The rights groups that Iran uses to intimidate political prisoners Against the rules of the United Nations on the treatment of prisoners.

Another political detainee described Fashvoy his cell to his family as unbearable due to lack of hygiene, with bed bugs and cockroaches everywhere, adding that the prison lacks basic amenities even compared to Evin.

Human Rights Watch has previously accused the Iranian authorities of using torture threats and unspecified prison, as well as long interrogation and refusal of medical care for detainees. Iran rejected these reports.

Although Evin has long been condemned by human rights groups because of the alleged torture and threats, the conditions in Fashfoh “were less than not reporting.”

The prominent Iranian journalist Mahdi Mahmoud, who was also transferred from Evin to Fashwiyeh, said in a letter published on his Instagram page, because of the non -political nature of the prisoners who have been seized there, They were “forgotten for a long time” “Years of humiliation, neglect and persecution” are offered because “they have no voice.”

“He prefers died in the attack instead of moving it to such a prison,” said Variba Kamalbadi, 62 -year -old Baha’i detainee, who was transferred from Evin to Karashk prison, south of the capital.

The Iranian Baha’i community has long faced systematic discrimination and persecution, and denied constitutional recognition and basic rights such as education, public workers and religious freedom, because the Islamic Republic does not recognize it as a religion.

Her daughter, Ilhan Taivi, who lives in the United Kingdom, said, “Variba must live in Qarchak in a crowded cell, where people were supposed to alternate food around the table, and then return to their family after that due to the lack of space,” said her daughter, Elhan Taifi, who lives in the United Kingdom.

“Some of the 60 prisoners who were transferred from Evin are elderly women, and they do not receive appropriate medical care. There are flies everywhere in the cell. Its grandchildren and grandchildren were allowed, as they are not considered an immediate family.”

BBC contacted the Iranian embassy in London to comment on the conditions of prisoners who were transferred from Evin.

In the month that occurred since the strikes, the BBC has been investigating the death of seven civilians related to the attack on Evin, including a five -year -old boy, a doctor and a painter.

The members of the Mahrangs family, 61, a painter and mother of two children who lived near the prison complex, told the BBC that she “took place in the tragedy” of the attack.

A family member said that he left the house to use a coin and considered that she was walking on a street adjacent to the prison visitors, where Israel struck the complex. It was killed due to the effect of the explosion.

Her children are destroyed, and it is a relative of the BBC.

“When two states are involved in a conflict, it is the people who pay the price. Both countries are guilty, and both are responsible, and both must be in mind.”

Additional reports by Shayan Sardarrazadeh, BBC investigate