By Wendy Nweke

At least four Iranian inmates died in a fire in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison overnight, the judiciary said Sunday, further stoking tensions one month into protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.
The Iranian authorities blamed the fire on “riots and clashes” among prisoners, but rights groups said they had little faith in the official version of events.

“Four prisoners died due to smoke inhalation caused by the fire, and 61 were injured,” the judiciary authority’s website, Mizan Online reported.

Four others were in “serious conditions” but the fire had been extinguished, it added.

Prisoners’ relatives and rights groups voiced grave fears for the inmates.

Gunshots and explosions were heard during the blaze from inside the complex, illuminated by flames and smothered by smoke, in video footage posted on social media channels.

The fire came after four weeks of protests over the death of 22-year-old Amini, after her arrest for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women.

The wave of demonstrations has turned into a major anti-government movement in the Islamic republic, confronting its clerical leadership with one of its biggest challenges since the ousting of the shah in 1979.

Evin, infamous for the ill-treatment of political prisoners, also holds foreign detainees and thousands facing criminal charges.

Hundreds of those arrested during the recent demonstrations and in a crackdown on civil society have been sent there.

“We do not accept official explanations” the Norway-based non-government group Iran Human Rights said about Iran’s official comments, adding that it had received reports that guards had sought to “incite” prisoners.

AFP