At least four prisoners died and 61 were injured after a fire at Iran’s notorious Evin prison, Iranian officials said Sunday.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA said Sunday that the prisoners died of smoke inhalation after prisoners allegedly started a fire in the facility’s sewing workshop during a riot in one wing of the prison.
Mohsen Mansouri, the governor of Tehran, previously told IRNA that eight people were injured and no deaths were reported.
Sources inside the prison told the BBC that the number of casualties is higher than what IRNA reported Sunday. Some families of prisoners told the outlet that their loved ones had not been able to contact them and that internet connection around the prison had been cut off.
Tehran’s prosecutor Ali Salehi told Iranian state broadcaster IRIB that the prison riot was not connected with protests that have gripped Iran since Mahsa Amini, 22, died when she was detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
Gunshots and explosions could be seen and heard in video footage from social media published by the BBC, which reported that the prison appeared to have been hit by an object fired from outside the prison – seemingly contradicting Mansouri’s account.
Ned Price, the spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said late Saturday that officials are following reports from the prison “with urgency.” (UPI)