Amnesty International: Israel’s Attack on Evin Prison a “War Crime”

WANA (Jul 22) – Amnesty International has issued an official statement declaring the Israeli military’s attack on Tehran’s Evin Prison a “serious violation of international humanitarian law,” stressing that the strike should be investigated and prosecuted as a war crime.

In the statement released on Monday, July 22, Amnesty emphasized that prisons and detention centers are considered civilian infrastructure under international law and may only be targeted if there is credible evidence of their use for military purposes. The organization stated that no substantiated evidence has been provided indicating that Evin Prison had been turned into a military objective.

Amnesty International underscored that deliberately carrying out such attacks constitutes a clear breach of the laws of war and international humanitarian law, affirming that the strike on Evin Prison by Israel amounts to a war crime.

On June 22, just one day before a temporary ceasefire with Iran was announced, Israel targeted Evin Prison in northern Tehran. The attack sparked widespread international concern about the fate of the detainees—particularly political prisoners and dual nationals.

Amnesty called for an independent and impartial investigation into the attack and demanded accountability from all those responsible.

In the early hours of June 13, Israel launched a series of terror attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing a number of military commanders, scientists, and civilians. In response, Iranian armed forces initiated Operation “True Promise 3” later that evening.

While Israeli media outlets and some international broadcasters falsely portrayed these attacks as being limited to military commanders and nuclear scientists, civilians were repeatedly targeted during the first day and in the days that followed in the 12-day war against the Islamic Republic. According to the latest reports, over 1,100 people have been killed so far in these assaults.

The Israeli strikes on Ghods Square on June 14 and the bombing of Evin Prison on June 22 are just two examples of attacks on densely populated residential areas with no military presence, in which large numbers of innocent people lost their lives.

Around midday on Monday, June 22, Israeli forces bombed Evin Prison. The Israeli projectiles, allegedly aimed at military and security targets, killed dozens of civilians in the process.