DUBAI (HRNW) – Eight prisoners died as a result of a fire at Tehran s Evin prison over the weekend, Iran s judiciary said on Monday, doubling the death toll from a blaze that has increased pressure on the government as it struggles to contain mass protests.
The fate of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who died in custody on Sept. 16 after she was apprehended by Iran s morality police for “inappropriate attire”, unleashed a wave of protests that spread rapidly and to all layers of society.
The unrest has turned into one of the boldest challenges to Iran s clerical rulers since the 1979 revolution, with protesters calling for the downfall of the Islamic Republic, even if the protests do not seem close to toppling the system.
Iran s judiciary said the blaze on Saturday evening was started by prisoners in a workshop after a fight, and that those killed had died of smoke inhalation. All were from a section of the prison for inmates jailed for robbery-related crimes, it said.
Tehran s tough crackdown on protests which include people from all layers of society, has drawn sharp international criticism from the United States and other Western powers.