“Surprisingly death”: The Israeli strike against Iran’s prison begins in prison the fear of defectors

Say Sayed, the Iranian dissident, escaped the prison by death by a little when the Israeli missiles struck the Evin prison, where it was imprisoned. I just got out of the prison clinic, moments before it was destroyed in the explosions.

Iranian judiciary spokesman Azir Jahangir said on Sunday that the strikes that occurred on June 23 to the most famous Iran prison due to political dissidents killed at least 71 people, including employees and soldiers, and visiting family members and people living near.

In the chaos that followed, the authorities transferred Sidal and others to prisons outside Tehran – crowded facilities, known for their harsh conditions.

When she was able to contact her family several days ago, Sidal appealed to help.

She said about the circumstances, according to the recording of the invitation made by its relatives, according to the desires of Sidal: “It is literally a slow death.”

She said: “The bombing of the United States and Israel did not kill us. Then the Islamic Republic brought us to a place that will kill us in practice.”

Activists fear that the Israeli attacks will lead to a campaign

Iranian activists who support democracy and rights fear that they will pay the 12 -day Israeli air campaign, which aims to paralyze the country’s nuclear program. Many people now say that the country, which is reeling from breach in its security, has It has already intensified the crackdown on opponents.

He said that the “repressive authorities” established by Israel – targets, “the repressive authorities” spread panic among the families of political prisoners, who were left to live to determine the fate of their loved ones. A week later, the families of those who were in solitary confinement or under interrogation are still not heard of them.

Nobel Al Salam Prize winner, Narij Muhammadi, who is a veteran activist He was imprisoned several times in EvinHe said that Iranian society, “to reach democracy, needs strong tools to enhance civil society and the women’s movement.”

“Unfortunately, the war weakens these tools,” she said in a video message to Associated Press from Tehran. She said that the political space is already shrinking, as the security forces increase the streets of the capital.

Fears of the executions waving on the horizon

Many people now fear a possible wave of executions targeting activists and political prisoners. They see a terrifying precedent: after the end of Iran’s war with Iraq in 1988, the authorities carried out at least 5,000 political prisoners after the trials of student, then buried them in mass graves that had not been reached before.

Indeed, during the Israel campaign, Iran executed six prisoners who were sentenced to death before the war.

The Washington -based human rights activists in Iran (HRA) documented nearly 1,300 people arrested, most of whom were accused of spying, including 300 to share social media content in only 12 days.

The Iranian parliament is tracing a rapid bill that allows further use of the death penalty for cooperating with foreign opponents. The judiciary called for urgent measures against those who “give peace” or “cooperation” with Israel.

Prisoners spread after the strike

Evin prison, which is located in a sophisticated neighborhood on the northern edge of Tehran, includes an estimated 120 men and women in its public wings, as well as hundreds of others believed to be in secret security units under interrogation or in solitary confinement, according to HRA.

Among the prisoners are the demonstrators, lawyers and activists who have carried out years against Iranian authoritarian rule, corruption and religious laws, including the enforcement of Islamic clothes on women. The authorities have crushed frequent waves of protests worldwide since 2009 in a campaign that killed hundreds and imprisoned thousands.

Evin strikes hit during the visit hours, causing shock and panic.

Sidal, a researcher in international law that has joined the protest movements over the past two decades, and I have been inside and outside the prison since 2023, has told her family near the brush with death in the prison clinic. The explosion on the ground, said one of the relatives who spoke to the torrent, as he was speaking, provided that his identity was not revealed for fear of revenge.

The visit of the public prosecutor’s visit and many of the prisoners’ wings were also severely damaged, according to rights groups and relatives of the prisoners. One of the missiles struck the prison entrance, as the prisoners often sit waiting for their transfer to hospitals or court.

“The prison attack, when the prisoners stand behind closed doors and cannot do the slightest thing to save themselves, it cannot be a legitimate goal.” Mohamedi was just released in December when the last sentence was briefly suspended for medical reasons.

During the night, buses began to transfer prisoners to other facilities, according to Muhammadi and the families of the prisoners. At least 65 women have been sent to QARCHK prison, according to Muhammadi, who is in contact with them. Men were sent to Tehran Grand Prison, Housing Crimei and Security Prisoners. Both are located south of Tehran.

Mohamedi told AP that her immediate fear was a lack of medical facilities and poor hygiene. Among women are many cases that need treatment, including a 73 -year -old civil rights activist, Rahaili Rahimi, who suffers from a brain tumor.

In her phone call, Sidal QARCHK described it as “helhole”. She said that women were packed together in isolation, with no hygiene care and limited food or drinking water.

“It is tuning. Just a pure dirt,” she said.

Sidal, 47, was sentenced to the first time in 2023. In early 2025, it was canceled, and was attacked by security and faced new charges after she refused to wear Chadur in the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Brother disappears

Reza Yunusi’s father and his younger brother, Ali, were imprisoned in Evin for years. Now the family is terrified because Ali has disappeared.

Ali, a 25 -year -old graduate from a prestigious technical university, was a 16 -year prison sentence for “collusion for crimes against national security.” The sentence, which was widely criticized by rights groups, was reduced, but then the Ministry of Intelligence launched a new case against him on unknown charges.

Days before the strike on Evin, Ali was withdrawn from his wing and was transferred to an unknown location, according to his brother.

After the strike, their father did not see Mir Youssef Yongi, that is, a sign of Ali, where he and other prisoners were transferred to the great Tehran prison. The father was able to obtain a call to his family, in a state of panic.

The disappearance in Evin is not common. The guards sometimes remove political prisoners from the interrogation wings. In some cases, they are judged in secret trials and implement them.

Reda Yongi said that the family lawyer was unable to know any information about his brother or the new charges.

“We are all worried,” said a spokesman from Sweden, where he is a co -professor at the University of Oppsala. “When there is no information from a prisoner, this in all cases means that the person is subject to interrogation and torture.”

“All hope has gone”

Mharaf Khandan grew up in a family of political activists. Most of her childhood and adolescence spent going to Evene to visit her mother, lawyer Nasserin Sotode, who was imprisoned there several times.

Her father, Reda Khandan, was thrown in Evin in December to distribute the buttons that oppose the mandatory veil of women.

Now live in Amsterdam, the 25 -year -old tried to find information about her father after the strike. The Internet was cut, and her mother was evacuated from Tehran. She said, “I was just thinking of someone who might die there.” It took 24 hours before you got a word whose father was fine.

In a family call later, her father told how he was asleep on the ground in a crowded cell spread with insects in Tehran Grand Prison.

Initially, I believed that the Evin strike might push the government to release the prisoners. But after seeing reports on collective arrests and execution, “All this has ended,” she said.

She said that the war “destroyed all the things that activists began to build.”