DubaiIran’s judiciary stated on Sunday that Israel had attacked Tehran’s Evin prison, a renowned facility where many political prisoners and dissidents have been detained, killing at least 71 people.
On the office’s official Mizan news agency website, Judiciary spokeswoman Asghar Jahangir said that personnel, troops, inmates, and members of visiting families were among those slain on Monday. The assertion could not be independently verified.
Rights organizations expressed concern about the safety of the prisoners following the June 23 strike, which struck multiple prison buildings the day before the ceasefire between Israel and Iran took effect.
The reason behind Israel’s targeting of the jail is still unknown, although it coincided with the Defense Ministry’s announcement that it was targeting government repression organizations and regime targets in the center of Tehran.
The declaration of the truce and an Iranian attack on a U.S. base in Qatar later that day, which resulted in no casualties, swiftly eclipsed the news of the jail attack.
Jahangir stated that the attack had struck the prison’s infirmary, engineering building, judicial affairs, and visitation hall, where visiting family members were murdered and injured, although he could not provide specific numbers of casualties.
Israel’s strike on the jail, which is considered as a symbol of the Iranian regime’s persecution of any opposition, was attacked by the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran on the day of the attack for violating the principle of distinguishing between civilian and military targets.
The group also criticized Tehrani authorities for failing to evacuate, offer medical aid, or notify families after the incident, claiming that Iran was constitutionally required to protect the detainees detained in Evin.
According to Jahangir, some injured people received on-site care, while others were taken to hospitals.
Iranian authorities acknowledged on Saturday that top prosecutor Ali Ghanaatkar, whose prosecution of dissidents, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, drew international criticism from human rights organizations, had been murdered in the attack. Iran has not previously disclosed any death tolls.
On Saturday, a large public funeral procession was organized in Tehran for approximately 60 individuals, and on Sunday, he was to be buried in a shrine in Qom.
In an attempt to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, Israel launched an attack on the country on June 13.
Israel claimed to have killed some 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, as well as struck eight nuclear-related facilities and more than 720 military infrastructure sites, more than 12 days prior to the declaration of a truce. The Human Rights Activists group, based in Washington, said that at least 417 civilians were among the more than 1,000 persons murdered.
Iran responded by firing over 550 ballistic missiles at Israel; the most were intercepted, but the ones that did make it through killed 28 people and damaged other locations.
