Iran Judiciary chief: Fire in Evin Prison ‘crime perpetrated by few of enemy’s agents’

Iranian Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei says the deadly fire incident in Tehran’s Evin Prison was a “crime perpetrated by few of the enemy’s agents.”

Mohseni-Ejei made the remarks in a Monday meeting of the Judiciary’s Supreme Council, during which he elaborated on the circumstances surrounding the blaze that swept through parts of the detention center in the northwest of the Iranian capital on Saturday night.

Media reports said at the time that the fire broke out in one of the tailoring workshops of Evin Prison following clashes between a number of prisoners convicted of financial crimes and theft.

The reports said 61 people were injured in the incident, adding that four detainees convicted of financial crimes lost their lives "due to smoke inhalation." Four other prisoners injured in the incident succumbed to their injuries on Sunday evening, bringing the latest number of fatalities to eight.

“What happened in Evin Prison was a crime perpetrated by few of the enemy’s agents,” Mohseni-Ejei said. “We witnessed that a small number of people tried to set fire to a workshop that had been set up to provide employment opportunities for serving prisoners and help their families. Meanwhile, a meeting hall that had been built with the purpose of developing the prisoners’ talents and educating them was also set ablaze.”

The top judge underlined, “The enemy’s agents actually aimed for the sites that were of paramount significance to the Iranian Prisons' Organization as they were used for the re-socialization of prisoners.”

Calm restored to Tehran’s Evin Prison after fire incident: Iran’s Judiciary

The Iranian Judiciary says the conditions in Tehran’s Evin Prison are

During the crime that happened in Evin Prison, Mohseni-Ejei said they set fire to the centers that would improve the condition of the prisoners and help their families, adding that by doing this, while carrying out an action that led to the death and injury of a number of prisoners, they also caused anxiety among the families of the prisoners.

“Undoubtedly, the perpetrators of the crime in Evin Prison prepared the ground for the Zionist, American and British war-mongering and rabble-rousing centers and offices” to advance their agendas, the Iranian Judiciary chief said, adding that the media outlets in the US and UK as well as other anti-Iran centers acted like a “war room” on the night of the fire incident just like the time during the recent riots across the country.

Mohseni-Ejei also called for the immediate trial of the main perpetrators of the recent riots, saying, “The trials should be held publicly, upon the judges’ decision and in compliance with legal regulations, so that the public are apprised of the crimes of these rabble-rousing elements.”

On Saturday night, foreign-backed anti-Iran media outlets swiftly linked the fire in Tehran’s Evin Prison to protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman of Kurdish descent, who fainted at a police station after her arrest and died days later at the hospital in the capital last month.

Iranian people in several cities held protests over the issue but some extremist elements derailed the protests and incited violence against security forces, wreaking havoc and setting fire to public property.

Immediately after Amini’s death, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi ordered a thorough investigation into the case.

An official report published last Friday said her death had been caused by an illness rather than alleged blows to the head or other vital body organs.

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