Inside Israel’s most rated blow on Iran

“For me, hell was not the moment when Israel was attacking; the hell was the moment when they would not open the door (on the cell) to us,” Motahareh Gyoni remembers in an exclusive interview with the BBC.

A political activist, Goonei was in seclusion in the famous Iran prison when he was hit by a targeted attack by Israel on June 23.

Satellite images, witnesses’ accounts and checked footage received from BBC News Persian reveal new details about the attack in Israeli-Iran closing hours and the dead.

The high security complex landed at the northern end of Tehran has held thousands of political prisoners in the last half century. On this day, in June, prison became the place of the most deadly Israeli strike on the Iranian soil with respect to civilian victims.

Iranian authorities claim that 80 people were killed – among them prison officials, prisoners, medical workers, visitors and residents of nearby neighborhoods.

In a report published on August 14, Human Rights Watch said Israeli air strikes in prison are illegally indiscriminate and amounted to an apparent war crime.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said the reason for the attack was that the facility was “used for intelligence operations against Israel”.

Describing the moment when the explosions were torn through the Union, Goonei said: “When I heard the third blast, I was sure there was no way out. I just hit the door with all my force, but it would not open. I thought” this is the end of your life – say goodbye. “

Released from her cell by another prisoner, Goonei came across a thick, suffocating smoke. She says guards initially try to block prisoners to escape, and some prison interrogators even threaten them.

Still, in scenes, she described as “terrifying but humanizing,” the prisoners rushed to help the wounded guards, reassuring a panicked woman officer and turning the wounds into a crying questioning.

Other prisoners from another ward rushed to help doctors and nurses trapped in prison.

Saeedeh Makarem, a doctor who was severely wounded at the strike, later wrote on Instagram: “The prisoners with whom I was treating my life once.”

Another woman held in Evin, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fears of her safety, described the moment of the BBC attack.

“At first there were several explosions in rapid sequence and the noise lasted about two minutes.

“At first on our beds at the beginning, because the windows crashed, then we dressed and all helped to take the older women down. None of the prison helped us – they closed the door on us and said we couldn’t go out.”

The BBC analysis shows that Israel attacked Evin with a few six shells, damaging at least 28 buildings inside the complex.

IDF says it has committed a “purposeful blow” on a “symbol of oppression against the Iranian people” and claims that measures have been taken to minimize the harm of civilians.

But a relative of a political prisoner who arrived to visit just minutes after the blasts said that “those who go out of prison said there are bodies everywhere. Some prisoners have gone out, none of them is trying to escape – just stunned.”

Iranian authorities say 75 prisoners fled during chaos. They were later seized or returned voluntarily.

Iranian officials say that from the 80s killed in the attack, 42 ​​are prison officials and five are prisoners. Only the names of the staff were issued.

BBC News Persian independently checked the identity and circumstances surrounding the death of three victims through interviews with their relatives. They are:

• Masud Behahans, a dual Iranian-American citizen who was detained on financial fees. His family received controversial stories about his death from the Iranian prisons organization.

• Arvin Mohammadi, 37 -year -old, killed in the administrative building while publishing a guarantee of temporary release of his father from prison during the war

• Mehrangiz Imanpour, 61, a prominent artist and artist killed by Shrapnel

Other victims killed in the attack were the local mother of a one -year -old child, a philanthropist visiting the release of the release of a prisoner, five social workers, 13 young military recruits and the five -year -old child of one of the social workers.

Following the attack on Evin Prison, the fate of transgender prisoners remains unknown. Some media reports say 100 transsexual prisoners have been killed, but the BBC Persian investigation reveals that this is not true.

Reza Shafaha, a lawyer in Iran, who followed the situation of transgender prisoners, told the BBC: “There are serious concerns about their situation. No one knows where these prisoners are now.”

Israel claims that the prison was used for “intelligence operations (against him), including the counter-director.” He did not answer the BBC questions about the right targets or used weapons or whether it anticipated the death of civilians.

A month after the attack, Amnesty International publishes a report on the incident.

“The targeting of attacks on civil sites is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law. Committing such attacks deliberately and deliberately represents a war crime,” says Erica Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Politics and Campaigns at Amnesty.

The UN Human Rights Service has said EVIN is not a “military goal” and the attack violates international humanitarian law.