At the end of an air war with Iran, Israel struck Tehran’s jail for political prisoners, in a demonstration that it was expanding its targets beyond military, civilian and nuclear sites to aim at symbols of Iran’s ruling system. According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the 12-day war, 13 of them children and 49 women, before a ceasefire went into effect last week.
“In the attack on Evin prison, 71 people were martyred, including administrative staff, youth doing their military service, detainees, family members of detainees who were visiting them and neighbours who lived in the prison’s vicinity,” Jahangir said in remarks carried on the judiciary’s news outlet Mizan.
Jahangir had previously said that part of Evin prison’s administrative building had been damaged in the attack, and people were killed and injured. The judiciary added that the remaining detainees had been transferred to other prisons in Tehran province.
Evin prison holds a number of foreign nationals, including two French citizens detained for three years.
“The strike targeting Evin prison in Tehran, put our citizens Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris in danger. It is unacceptable,” France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had said on social media X after the attack.
The spokesperson for Iran’s Health Ministry has released an updated death toll from Israel’s attacks on Iranian territory, media reports.
In a post on X, Hossein Kermanpour said at least 627 people were killed and 4,870 wounded in Israeli strikes.
Tehran recorded the highest number of casualties, followed by Kermanshah, with Khuzestan, Lorestan, and Isfahan reporting significant losses, he said.
“I make no judgments,” Kermanpour wrote. “I do not describe the painful scenes of the arrival of injured children, mothers, and civilians, and I leave it to the judgment of humanity’s conscience today.”
About 86.1 per cent of the victims died at the scene, while 13.9pc succumbed to their wounds in hospitals.
