Israeli strike on Evin prison resulted in 71 deaths

The Israeli attack on Monday against Evin prison in Tehran amid the war against Iran resulted in 71 deaths, reported the Iranian judiciary on Sunday, on the sixth day of a cease-fire between the two enemy countries. Opponents and foreign or dual-national prisoners, including French nationals, were held in this highly secure penitentiary center, located at the foot of the mountain in northern Tehran, at the time of the Israeli strikes.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi was notably incarcerated there for many years. “According to official statistics, 71 people were killed during the attack on Evin prison,” said the judiciary's spokesperson, Asghar Jahangir. Israel confirmed that its strikes in Tehran targeted this prison. Among the victims were prison administrative staff, soldiers, prisoners, relatives visiting them, but also residents living nearby, Jahangir specified.

Photos of the penitentiary complex released by the Iranian judiciary show collapsed walls, ceilings, and piles of rubble being cleared by bulldozers. “The health center” and “the visiting area” were specifically targeted, the judiciary noted. On Tuesday, authorities announced having “transferred” an unspecified number of detainees to other penitentiary facilities.

The French nationals Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, detained for three years at Evin, “were apparently not affected,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Monday, calling the Israeli strike “unacceptable.” A 40-year-old literature professor from the east of France, Cécile Kohler, and her 72-year-old partner Jacques Paris, a retired math teacher, were arrested on May 7, 2022, on the last day of a tourist trip to Iran. They have since been accused of “espionage,” an allegation their entourage rejects. The French authorities consider them “state hostages.”