On 23 June 2025 Israel bombed Evin prison, killing innocent prisoners alongside their guards and interrogators. Bombing prisons and hospitals is a war crime. The Israeli government has bombed both.
Built in the 1970s, Evin Prison housed many of Iran’s political detainees during both the time of the Shah as well as this regime. It was one of the places where prisoners in the 1980s were massacred in great numbers. When I was imprisoned there I witnessed daily torture and execution. During the 2022 Woman Life Freedom protests, the regime also set fire to parts of Evin in order to murder prisoners.
Monarchists have thanked Israel for bombing Evin prison so much that extensive damage to the complex has resulted in the regime transferring all inmates to other prisons. The west has been promoting monarchist propaganda for many years.
During the Iran- Iraq war in the 1980s, a prison near Piranshahr was bombed and countless prisoners died. A 1986 Supreme Judicial Council ruling called for the release of prisoners held in war zones. A week before Israel’s attack on Evin, prisoners and their families begged the warden and authorities to release inmates until the end of the war, but the authorities did not accede.
Evin did not have any water or electricity until the night after it was bombed. Some male prisoners were able to contact their families using a phone in their ward, but women were denied access to a phone and could not tell their loved ones that they were still alive.
These female prisoners heard several explosions. Their wards shook and windows shattered. No prison guards came for three hours, leaving the prisoners to attend to the injured and clean up the wards alone. The inmates were worried for their families.
The women were then told they had one hour to prepare themselves for a transfer. The guards told them that if they did not come out they would be hit with tear gas and beaten. They did not know where they were being taken and did not want to leave. Prison transfers are used to create psychological pressure and to torture inmates. The guards beat them and took the prisoners out of their wards using force.
The 60 or so prisoners were handcuffed together in pairs. They couldn’t take everything they had or wanted to bring. Some prisoners couldn’t pack their medicine. They couldn’t carry most of their belongings because they only had one hand to use.
Some of the families who had come to the doors of Evin after hearing the bombs had seen their children leaving the prison in a bus. They were worried about the wellbeing of their kin.
At Gharchack prison they were body searched. They all were left in a metal hall, without windows or air conditioning. They didn’t have any medical aid. The only respite in the hall was a water cooler. The air was unbreathable due to the hot June weather of this arid part of Iran. The place was extremely dirty and with no facilities. Conditions were cramped, with nowhere near enough space for all of the prisoners. Gharchak Prison is roughly 40 miles south of Tehran and the building is severely dilapidated.
The next day prisoners were placed in small windowless cells with 8-10 people in one room. There is no air conditioning in these rooms and the water in Gharchak is undrinkable. There are not enough bathroom facilities. After many days without being able to contact their families, prisoners finally have one phone available to make contact with the outside world.
This experience is similar to my own when transferring between prisons. On arrival the guard in charge would always make it clear that he wanted to break our spirits with immediate effect and threats would be made.
Male prisoners had a different experience of bombing:
The explosion shattered the windows and doors of Ward 4. Many prisoners were injured. Those who were able to simply walk out of their wards, saw that the prison clinic was on fire. The food and cleaning storage was destroyed. The wards that held solitary cells were also damaged and the doors blasted open. Both prisoners and guards walked out of the ward with frightened faces. There were few guards present compared to inmates. Prisoners started to remove those who were trapped under rubble. This included other prisoners, clinic workers, cleaners and other guards. There weren’t many guards, prisoners could have escaped, but they chose to stay and help those who were under the rubble. The doctor who had cared for the prisoners was saved by his own patients and pulled out from the debris. Later on she wrote, ‘the prisoners saved my life. The same people who I had cured helped me. They took me to a corner. I was half dead. They brought me water, covered me, and splinted my leg. They wiped blood from my face, they were wept for me. I was frightened. I asked them not to leave me. One of them replied that they wouldn’t leave me. They could escape, but they didn’t, they stayed with me. They saved my life.’
There were more than 3000 inmates in Evin when Israel bombed the prison. Some of their injuries were critical, but they weren’t sent to hospital and didn’t receive any medical attention.
After the bombing, prisoners were taken out of their wards at 2.30 am. A violent nighttime transfer of hundreds of inmates to other prisons started. Prisoners were shackled and chained together in pairs. Even prisoners whose hands and legs were broken were handcuffed and shackled. They had one hand free to carry belongings so most possessions were left behind. Prisoners had to walk through and over debris while explosions lit up the sky and the noise of anti-aircraft missiles shook the night over their heads. Prisoners were surrounded by guards holding submachine guns. They had gone from prisoners to hostages of war.
They walked slowly because of the shackles. They reached the new prison at 8am after six hours of walking. For 24 hours they had not slept, eaten or had any water to drink.
The men too found the new prison very dirty and with no drinking water. They have to buy water but the prison shop does not have enough – if the prisoners can even afford to buy it. Their problems include cramped spaces, a severe lack of hygiene, as well as verbal and physical violence from their guards.
The bombing of Evin was so extreme that people living, driving or walking in the surrounding areas were also murdered.
Israel killed prisoners and psychologically tortured those prisoners who survived. Their families suffered, as did those who lost their homes in the surrounding area. Countless children are now too afraid to sleep alone.
I hope people of the world realise the true threat of western governments and their use of Israel for genocide in Gaza and the bombing of surrounding countries. If people unite and use their power as a collective the torture and killings will come to an end.
