UN Mission Declares Israeli Evin Prison Strike a War Crime

In Geneva, the chair of a United Nations fact-finding mission on Iran declared on Monday that an Israeli airstrike on Tehran's Evin prison last June constituted a war crime, while expressing alarm over the potential for heightened domestic repression amid ongoing U.S.-Israeli bombing campaigns in the country.

Sara Hossain, leading the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, presented her report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, stating that investigators found reasonable grounds to believe Israel intentionally directed attacks against the prison, classified as a civilian object under international law. The strike occurred during an air war between Israel and Iran, killing at least 80 people inside the facility, including one child and eight women, according to the mission's findings. Iranian authorities had previously reported more than 70 deaths in the incident.

The report drew on interviews with victims and witnesses, satellite imagery, and other documentation to substantiate the claims. Evin prison, notorious for detaining political prisoners and dissidents, has long been a focal point of human rights concerns. Among its current inmates is a British couple,...