The protest movement in Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini on September 16, continues into its fifth week in Iran, and the protests intensified with the onset of riots and a fire on Saturday evening in the Evin prison in northern Tehran. This prison houses political and foreign prisoners. The fire claimed the lives of four prisoners and injured 61 others, the judiciary announced yesterday on its website. “Four prisoners died due to smoke inhalation from the fire, and 61 people were injured,” Mizan Online said, adding that four of the injured were in a “serious condition.”
Earlier, a law enforcement source confirmed to Agence France-Presse that “the riots and skirmishes that took place on Saturday evening in the criminal detention department at Yuen Prison” developed into “a problem between them and the prison staff and these” thugs “. set fire to a clothing store in the prison, which caused a fire.”
He added: “At present, the situation is completely under control, calm reigns in the colony, firefighters are working to extinguish the fires,” explaining that “the rioters were separated from the rest, and the rest of the detainees returned to their cells. .”
For its part, the 1500 Tasvir channel, which monitors protests and violations by the police, stated on its Twitter account that “a fire is spreading in Evin prison”, “explosion sounds are heard” and chants “death of a dictator”, which is one of the main slogans of the protest movement.
State Department spokesman Ned Price announced on Twitter that Washington is closely monitoring the situation, holding “Iran fully responsible for the safety of our unjustly detained citizens, who must be released immediately.”
Iranian opposition filmmaker Jaafar Panahi and reformist politician Mostafa Tajzadeh are also reportedly detained in Evin.
Angry Iranians took to the streets again on Saturday despite the internet shutdown. Young Iranian women are leading the current wave of street protests, the largest in the country in recent years.
According to a video widely circulated online, veiled women shouted “Mullahs must go” at the Shariati Technical and Vocational College in Tehran on Saturday. West of Tehran, protesters fired projectiles at security forces near the main roundabout in the city of Hamadan, according to images verified by AFP.
According to the 1500 Tasphere website, merchants went on strike in Saqqaz, the hometown of Mahsa Amini, in the province of Kurdistan (northwest) and Mahabad (north).
