Iran airs video from Evin prison hours after fire, tells Biden to stop interfering By Reuters

By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iranian state television aired a video clip seemingly exhibiting that calm had returned to Tehran’s Evin prison on Sunday immediately after a fire broke out there right away, as unrest sparked by Mahsa Amini’s demise in law enforcement custody last thirty day period.

Iranian authorities reported the workshop had been set on fireplace “right after a combat among the a amount of prisoners convicted of financial crimes and theft”. Evin holds lots of detainees dealing with protection rates, like Iranians with dual nationality.

Asked about the prison hearth, U.S. President Joe Biden advised reporters during a campaign excursion on Saturday to Portland, Oregon that the Iranian authorities was “so oppressive” and that he was shocked by the courage of the Iranian protesters.

Iran’s foreign ministry reported Biden had interfered in condition issues by showing support for the anti-federal government protests. The authorities have responded with a brutal crackdown.

Rights groups claimed at least 240 protesters had been killed in the anti-govt protests, which includes 32 minors. About 8,000 people today experienced been arrested in 111 towns and towns, Iranian activist information company HRANA stated on Saturday.

Amid the casualties have been teenage ladies whose fatalities have become a rallying cry for much more demonstrations throughout the country.

Iran, which has blamed the violence on enemies at household and overseas, deny security forces have killed protesters. Point out media stated on Saturday at least 26 associates of the stability forces experienced been killed by “rioters”.

The protests have attracted international condemnation, with the United States, Canada and some European international locations imposing sanctions on Iranian officers and organisations “included in the clampdown on protesters”.

“On Saturday … Biden interfered in Iran’s condition matters by supporting the riots … In recent times, the U.S. administration has tried desperately to inflame unrest in Iran below several excuses,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani claimed, ISNA described.

The footage of Evin aired on state tv confirmed firefighters inspecting a workshop with fire damage to the roof. It also confirmed inmates in their wards evidently “sleeping as quiet has been restored”.

Point out news company IRNA mentioned on Saturday 8 folks ended up wounded in the fire at the Evin prison. But the semi-official Fars information agency reported on Sunday that “no actual official figure of these hurt or doable casualties have been released however”.

Movie received by Reuters showed protesters marching among traffic in direction of Tehran’s Evin prison on Saturday night time and into Sunday morning.

Iran’s notorious Evin jail, which holds criminal convicts as well as political detainees, has lengthy been criticised by Western legal rights teams and was blacklisted by the U.S. government in 2018 for “significant human legal rights abuses”.

The protests mark one particular of the boldest worries to clerical rule because the 1979 revolution, with demonstrations spreading across the country and popular calls for the downfall the Islamic Republic, even if the unrest does not feel near to toppling the process.