For more than 40 years, Evin prison in Tehran has been the most visible symbol of the Islamic Republic’s authoritarian rule, a menacing complex built on fear and absolute control. Unrest rarely breaches the prison walls.
But on the night of Oct. 15, massive fires tore through Evin, killing at least eight people and injuring 61, according to state media. Families of prisoners fear the true toll is much higher.
The disaster coincided with nationwide demonstrations that have swept across Iran over the past month, and a brutal crackdown by the country’s security forces, who have killed dozens of protesters and arrested thousands more. Some of those detained have been taken to Evin, where rights groups have documented a long history of torture and other abuses.
Extraordinary videos from the night of the fire show people shouting, “Death to the dictator” and “Death to Khamenei,” a reference to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and a rallying cry of demonstrators, as shots are fired and flames rise above the prison.
To understand what happened that night, The Washington Post analyzed dozens of photos and videos, spoke to activists, lawyers, former prisoners and families of current prisoners, and consulted with experts in arson, weapons and audio forensics.
The findings are damning: At least one fire that night appears to have been started intentionally at a time when prisoners are locked in their cells. The most deadly fire erupted near the scene of the arson. As prisoners tried to flee the fire, guards and other security forces assaulted them with batons, live ammunition, metal pellets and explosives.
The fires
The unrest started about 8:45 p.m., according to a video posted by Mizan, the news site of Iran’s judiciary. The video claims that a fight broke out in Ward 7 and that prisoners then set fire to a nearby textiles workshop.
Satellite imagery analyzed by The Post does, indeed, show extensive damage to the roof of the two-story building in the center of the prison that houses the textiles workshop, as well as a religious hall called a Hussainiya on the level below.
That was not the only fire in the prison that night, however, and it was probably not the first.
Before any flames were visible from the outside of the textiles workshop, videos show at least three individuals throwing flammable liquid onto a fire atop an adjacent building in Ward 7, according to Phillip Fouts, a certified fire investigator. The fire on the roof probably didn’t catch, he said, because of a lack of combustible material. Satellite imagery taken in the aftermath shows only minimal damage.
Yet visuals show another fire blazing high into the air inside the grounds of Ward 7, close to where the arsonists had previously fed the flames on the rooftop. This second fire appeared to originate by the entrance to Ward 7, near a guard station, according to a former inmate who spent several years inside Evin. He spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity, fearing backlash from the government.
The Post cannot confirm how the fire inside Ward 7 started, but its proximity to the intentional fire is telling. And it is the fire inside Ward 7 — which the government later blamed on prisoners without providing evidence — that offered a pretext for the chaotic and deadly crackdown on inmates that followed.
The gates to the wards were locked at 5 p.m. each night after roll call, according to the former prisoner. Families of current prisoners say their movements have been further restricted since the protests broke out last month. This makes it unlikely that inmates could have accessed any of the three areas where the fires broke out.
Amnesty International has reported that the sounds of gunshots and screaming in Ward 7 could be heard by prisoners in neighboring wards as early as 8 p.m., well before the first flames were visible, and that “authorities sought to justify their bloody crackdown on prisoners under the guise of battling the fire.” Iranian state television later said that security forces were responding to a “premeditated” escape plan by prisoners.
“This was a strange incident that happened at a time that the prisoners should be sleeping,” said Saleh Nikbakht, a lawyer who has several clients in Evin, speaking to The Post by phone from Tehran. “This was a big event.”
Ward 7 houses thieves and financial criminals, according to the government, though the former inmate told The Post that more violent criminals were also held there. Just as importantly, it borders Ward 8, where dissidents and political prisoners are held, and where the smoke from the fire eventually spread.
A deadly crackdown
As noxious smoke poured from Ward 7 into Ward 8, labor rights activist Arash Johari began to cough and gag, he told his family.
Johari, 30, said he and the rest of the prisoners in Ward 8 faced a stark choice: smash through the gates or suffocate. As they burst through the locked doors and spilled into the prison yard they were met by enraged guards, who brutalized them with batons, bullets and tear gas, according to family members who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions from authorities.
Steven Beck, an audio forensics expert, and researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, separately analyzed videos provided by The Post and found that more than 100 distinct gunshots were fired. Both analyses identified automatic gunfire “consistent with an AK-47” as well as sounds that likely came from handguns and rifles.
Mohammad Khani, a dissident in Ward 8, was blasted in the chest with metal pellets and took a bullet in his side, according to a family member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Beck determined there were also at least two explosions “consistent with grenades.” Amael Kotlarski, a senior analyst and weapons experts from Janes, the intelligence defense provider, examined footage and audio provided by The Post and concluded stun grenades were probably launched into the prison, “judging by the flash and audible blast” heard in the video.
“[Johari] said he had been beaten in the head with a baton and that he was dizzy and felt nauseous,” said his family member. “He also said he had blurred vision and his head was bleeding.”
The experiences of Khani and Johari that night could not be independently verified by The Post, but they were consistent with the findings of Amnesty, as well as with past investigations by The Post documenting the use of excessive force against protesters in Iran.
Reinforcements were dispatched to Evin to deal with the unrest, including “security forces, judicial forces, the Basij and special police units,” prison official Heshmatollah Hayat Al Ghaib said in the judiciary video. The Basij are a paramilitary branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and have taken a leading role in the violent suppression of demonstrators.
The fire at Evin had been put out and the unrest was brought under control shortly before midnight, according to the government, though sources who have family and friends living around the prison told The Post that gunfire could still be heard as late as 2 a.m. Sunday.
Three buses full of prisoners from Ward 8, including Johari, were sent from Evin to Rajai Shahr prison, about 40 miles west, according to Johari’s family member. The judiciary video shows these buses being escorted by police cars with flashing red lights.
Johari was promised an X-ray for his head injuries at Rajai Shahr but authorities did not follow through, his family said.
Khani contacted his family Sunday to tell them he had been badly wounded. His relatives fought for him to get outside medical care and prison authorities eventually relented, taking him to a nearby hospital.
The bullet in Khani’s side was approximately two fingers deep inside his body and required surgery, his family member said, alleging that the doctors did not stitch his wound up properly or give him antibiotics before sending him back to Evin. He can only walk now with the aid of other political prisoners in Ward 8, they said.
Dozens of other families flocked to Evin on Sunday morning to get news of their loved ones. They were turned away by soldiers until a large crowd had formed and began beating on the gate, demanding answers. Many mothers, thinking their children were dead, wailed with grief.
“When families went up as a group to ask questions [the guards] insisted that people come up one-by-one or else guards would be called to beat them,” said Johari’s relative, who talked to families at the prison that day. “All they kept saying is ‘Go home and we’ll contact you.’”
Farther away, other families were gripped by a similar fear. Among those held at Evin are Siamak Namazi and Emad Sharghi, two Iranian American business executives.
When the unrest broke out Saturday night, Namazi was moved from Ward 4 to Ward 2A, which is run by the IRGC, according to his brother Babak. Namazi could hear the gunfire and smell the smoke during the unrest, his brother told The Post in a telephone interview from Dubai.
“It’s important for President Biden to see how close we came. It could have been Siamak and Emad who got killed,” said Babak. “It shows the literal urgency and the life-threatening situation that they’re in.”
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