From the Liveblog of
Sunday, July 6, 2025
Iran invites Western journalists to tour notorious Evin Prison in wake of Israeli strikes
Iran recently invited Western journalists to tour the infamous Evin Prison, with various media outlets publishing footage yesterday from inside its walls after it was targeted by an Israeli strike during last month’s 12-day war.
Evin Prison, located in Tehran, is the Islamic Republic’s most notorious jail for political prisoners, and number of foreign nationals are detained there as well.
It is a heavily fortified and secretive complex with a reputation for human rights abuses. While it is almost unheard of for Iran to bring Western journalists into the prison, its reason for doing so now was to display the damage it says was caused by the Israeli strikes.
Footage captured by Sky News shows damage sustained to the prison hospital, where the windows are blown out, damaged equipment is covered in debris, and exposed wires hang from the ceiling.
Sky News has witnessed the scale of the destruction caused by Israeli airstrikes at a notorious prison in Iran.
International affairs editor @DominicWaghorn is one of the few journalists to gain access to Evin prison in Tehran.
Eyewitness report ➡️ https://t.co/Oa925w3Rlh
— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 4, 2025
Sky News also shows the exterior of what Iran says is the heavily damaged visitors center, and notes that there are several other damaged buildings in the vicinity of the courtyard, but filming was not allowed there.
NBC News, which also sent a correspondent to tour the prison, shows a brief clip of one of the damaged administrative buildings.
Separately, the Washington Post estimates, based on its analysis of high-resolution satellite images of Evin Prison, that Israeli strikes either destroyed or damaged 17 buildings within the sprawling prison complex.
Citing image analysts, the Post says that the locations of the damaged buildings indicate that Israel carried out between four and six individual strikes, which appeared to target entry gates and take out prison staff in the central areas.
In addition, the Post says, around 60 acres of land surrounding the complex were burnt in fires triggered by the strikes.
The strikes are said by Iran to have killed at least 71 people, including staff, soldiers, visiting family members, and people living nearby.
The Times of Israel Community.