In the Iranian capital, Tehran, the streets have been largely silent since the US and Israel launched attacks against the country over the weekend.
Many residents took advice from Israeli officials and US President Donald Trump, who urged Iranians to seek refuge, fleeing the capital to the northern provinces.
But some could not leave. In northern Tehran, human rights groups report that detainees at the country’s notorious Evin prison have been locked up during airstrikes and denied food since the start of the conflict.
“The internal situation in Evin prison is described as chaotic,” read a report by the Iran Human Rights Society on Sunday. “The prison administration staff are said to have closed the prison gates and exited the premises.”
Prisoners had only a limited amount of bread to eat and food was no longer distributed in some wards, including the women’s ward, the agency said.
Unconfirmed reports said Iran’s counter-terrorism force had taken control of the prison from the police.
Read moreFormer hostage Louis Arnaud discusses life in Evin prison – and his fears for Iran’s future
Later, on Tuesday, a portion of the prison wall was destroyed in an airstrike. Families of prisoners gathered outside the compound but were unable to get information on whether anyone had been killed or injured – although some prisoners managed to make phone calls afterwards.
“They don’t have food for me, the situation is really bad, and they are afraid of what will happen,” Vida Mehrania, wife of political prisoner and Iranian academic Ahmadreza Jalali, told AFP.
‘desperate’
Mehrania said she was able to call her husband “for two minutes” on Tuesday, who was executed for espionage in 2017 and received Swedish nationality behind bars.
Dajlali confirmed that only bread was left for the prisoners to eat, and although guards were still posted outside the prison, “inside the prison, they locked the door and left”.
He told his wife that prison inmates were “desperate.”
The son of detained British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman was also able to speak to his parents.
“They’re hearing jets going. They’re hearing bombs going off in the surrounding area outside of Evin,” Joe Bennett told Reuters on Tuesday. “One of the bombs was so close to the prison that it actually … punctured the windows and the ceiling,” he said.
As well as housing political prisoners – routinely subjected to torture and summary execution – Evin prison often houses foreign nationals arrested on security and espionage charges.
Foreman was sentenced to 10 years in Iran on espionage charges, after authorities accused him of gathering information in several parts of the country, which he denied.
Bennett said the couple was able to make a short call to her from a communal landline, saying she was scared at the time.
He said the atmosphere in the jail has become more tense with more detainees being brought in after protests in the city.
‘Panic and Fear’
Dozens of political detainees across Iran are believed to be held in the country’s jails, many of whom were arrested during nationwide anti-government protests in January.
Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi’s foundation on Sunday reviewed similar reports of a crisis in Qezelhesar prison northwest of Tehran and Lakan prisons near the Caspian Sea, “characterized by food shortages, closure of commissaries and reduced access to medical care”.
It warned that “humanitarian disasters” could unfold in prisons across the country.
Amnesty International, which is conducting an ongoing investigation into the current conditions in Iran’s prisons, has received reports of explosions being heard and felt by prisoners across the country.
“As we understand, the sense of fear and dread among the prisoners is increasing day by day,” said Nasim Papayanni, senior campaigner for Iran at Amnesty International.
“They don’t know what will happen next: if there will be more explosions and what they will do there, because there is no shelter in prisons.”
At the same time, according to a report by Iran’s Center for Human Rights, prisoners are “largely in the dark about ongoing military developments”.
The general population of Iran has been subjected to a national communications blackout that has completely shut down the Internet for more than 120 hours, online monitor NetBlocks said on Thursday.
Prisoners have less access to information than the general public, and while some prisoners are able to contact loved ones, others are not.
“There doesn’t seem to be any clear indication as to how some inmates have some access to phone calls and some don’t,” added Papayani.
Lack of contact puts some inmates at great risk.
The Narges Mohammadi Foundation said on Sunday it was “deeply concerned” about the human rights activist currently held in Zanjan General Prison in northern Iran – her siblings in Iran have lost all contact with her.
It said it was “gravely concerned that executions could be carried out in secret without notifying lawyers or detainees’ families, amid the continued blackout”.
‘Shadow of War’
As the conflict between Iran, the US and Israel shows no signs of slowing down, rights groups have warned that the Iranian regime could use the chaos of the war to cover up how it treats prisoners.
“The Islamic Republic has a history of using the shadow of war and crises to perpetrate abuses in prisons and retaliate against political prisoners,” Iran’s Center for Human Rights said.
“Judicial and prison authorities may increase abuses, especially against those arrested on politically motivated charges.”
It happened during the 12-day war on Iran in June, when hundreds of prisoners were evacuated from Evin prison after a deadly Israeli attack on the compound.
After they moved, the administration refused to confirm some of their new locations or, if they were still alive, “risking enforced disappearances and torture,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported.
Other prisoners were moved indefinitely to compounds unfit for human habitation, with HRW reporting “walls covered in vomit and feces”, “severe insect infestations”, “poor-quality and insufficient food and a lack of bedding forcing many to sleep on the floor”.
Prisoners were not evacuated from Evin prison before the strikes – despite being housed in buildings lacking emergency staircases or fire extinguishers – even though Iranian prison rules stipulate that some non-violent prisoners can be released in “times of crisis” involving war.
Under these terms, rights groups called on the Iranian regime this week to release political and ideological prisoners.
“The prisoners have no ability to defend themselves against aerial or missile attacks,” the Iran Human Rights Society said. “Any delay in decision-making can have irreparable human consequences.”
Papianni added that prisoners “face the possibility of attacks by airstrikes and bombs, but intensified repression by prison authorities”.
“Many of these individuals are already victims of human rights violations and unjust imprisonment, and now they face further violations, including their right to life.”
(Tags to be translated)Middle East(T)Iran(T)Iran Conflict(T)Narges Mohammadi(T)Human Rights(T)Political Prisoners(T)Features
