Busloads of prisoners have been transferred from Evin Prison to other prisons in the Tehran region after an Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) strike on 23 June targeted the gates of the prison, where at least eleven Christians were among hundreds of prisoners of conscience. Some prison officers were reportedly killed in the attack and windows were shattered. The IDF confirmed that it had targeted the prison, describing it as a “symbol of oppression for the Iranian people“.
According to Article 18’s sources, some Christians have been transferred to the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary, where they are being held in unsanitary conditions in overcrowded cells, with as many as forty prisoners in each. Female prisoners have been transferred to Qarchak women’s prison, where they are reportedly being held in the gymnasium due to lack of space.
Christian prisoners who were being held in Evin included Joseph Shahbazian, Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh, Hakop Gochumyan, Mina Khajavi, Aida Najaflou and Amir-Ali Minaei.
Article 18 reports that sixty Christians are currently either detained in Iran or are in the process of being tried on charges related to their faith, and says that in many cases the individuals or their loved ones are required to make regular visits to the offices of the agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence or Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other locations that have been the target of recent attacks. The Tehran prosecutor’s office (where Christians are often brought) and the IRGC headquarters were among the sites targeted on 23 June, before a ceasefire was announced the following day.
“All the windows in the ward have been broken”
Families of those held in Evin Prison have been sharing accounts from their loved ones after the attack. Ahmad Ghadyani posted on X that his father Abulfazl Ghadyani (64), a political prisoner charged with propaganda against the Iranian regime, called him to describe the damage to the prison. “My father called from Evin Prison,” Ahmad Ghadyani wrote. “Evin Prison has been attacked and all the windows in the ward have been broken… Does the government really want to keep so many political prisoners, many of whom are sick, in prison? What kind of crime and stupidity is this?”
The Human Rights Activists News Agency, an NGO that advocates for human rights in Iran, reported that the prison’s telephones have been cut off in most wards and restricted in others, and said visiting has been cancelled until further notice.
Israel launches attack
Israel’s attack on Iran was launched on 13 June with a series of strikes that included dozens of military targets. The Iranian nuclear programme was bombed in what Israel called a “preemptive” strike, citing intelligence that it said indicated Iran had “significantly advanced” toward obtaining a nuclear weapon – claims Iran denied.
On 17 June, Article 18 released a statement in which it said, “The Islamic Republic must abandon inflammatory rhetoric and ideological hostility, and instead focus on the safety, prosperity, and basic rights of its own citizens – responsibilities it has neglected for over four decades. It has no mandate to gamble with their lives for the sake of religiopolitical ideology. We also urge the Israeli government to refrain from targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran. Destroying systems essential to survival will only worsen human suffering and makes any future path towards peace and reconciliation all the more difficult to walk.”
On 19 June, Article 18 reported that at least three trials involving Christians charged in relation to their religious activities had been postponed amid the conflict with Israel. Court hearings due to take place in Tehran and two other cities were postponed indefinitely. On 23 June it released a statement expressing “grave concern” for the safety and well-being of all prisoners following the strike on Evin Prison.
(Article 18, ABC News, HRANA)
Photo credit: Wikipedia/Eshan Iran