Hossain\u2019s report was based on interviews with victims and witnesses, satellite imagery and other documents.<\/p>\n
\t The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement to Reuters on Tuesday that it carried out the 2025 targeted strike on the facility where, it said, intelligence operations were taking place against Israel, including counter-espionage.<\/p>\n \u201cThe strike was carried out in a precise manner to mitigate harm to civilians imprisoned within the prison to the greatest extent possible,\u201d the IDF said.<\/p>\n In August, Human Rights Watch alleged<\/a> that the Israeli strike was \u201can apparent war crime,\u201d while also accusing Tehran of harming and disappearing prisoners after the attack.<\/p>\n Human Rights Watch said the attack was \u201cunlawfully indiscriminate\u201d and that there was no evidence of an advance warning or a military target before striking the prison complex, which held an estimated 1,500 prisoners.<\/p>\n \t Evin Prison, located in an upscale neighborhood on Tehran\u2019s northern edge, held men and women in its general wards, as well as hundreds of others believed to be in its secretive security units under interrogation or in solitary confinement, according to activists.<\/p>\n The prisoners include protesters, lawyers, and activists who have campaigned for years against Iran\u2019s authoritarian rule, corruption, and religious laws.<\/p>\n The strikes hit Evin during visiting hours, causing shock and panic among families of the prisoners, who were left scrambling to determine their loved ones\u2019 fates.<\/p>\n \t Visiting halls, the prosecutor\u2019s office, and several prisoner wards were\u00a0 heavily damaged, according to rights groups and relatives of prisoners. One missile hit the prison entrance, where prisoners often sit waiting to be taken to hospitals or court.<\/p>\n At the time, Defense Minister Israel Katz said only that a missile was fired at the prison gates amid a wave of strikes on \u201cregime targets and governmental repression bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the same day that the strike was carried out \u201cin a pinpoint manner, to avoid harm to those uninvolved.\u201d<\/p>\n Potential for further crackdown<\/p>\n Hossain also condemned mounting civilian deaths in Iran amid the current conflict, and voiced concerns that the US-Israeli bombing campaign could lead Iran to crack down even harder on dissent, pointing to an increase in executions after last year\u2019s strikes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe core lesson drawn from our investigations in this context is clear: external military action does not provide accountability or bring meaningful change. Instead, it risks intensifying domestic repression,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \t Mai Sato, a UN-appointed rights expert on Iran, also voiced concern about detainees, including those rounded up during mass protests in January.<\/p>\n Families have not been able to contact relatives, and food and medicines are in increasingly short supply in prisons, she said.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s ambassador to the UN, Ali Bahreini, called for condemnation of the US-Israeli strikes, which he said had killed more than 1,300 people in Iran.<\/p>\n Israel is not currently a member of the UNHRC but, like all United Nations member states, has informal observer status and a seat in the council meeting chamber. However, last year it announced it was halting engagement with the council, accusing it of \u201cprotecting human rights abusers\u201d while \u201cdemonizing\u201d Israel and \u201cpropagating antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tChair of the United Nations\u2019 Independent International Iran Fact-Finding Mission Sara Hossain after delivering her speech before delegates at the UN Human Rights Council on March 16, 2026. (Fabrice COFFRINI \/ AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AFP__20250701__64EA2G6__v2__HighRes__TopshotIranIsraelConflictPrison-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tTwo women walk amidst debris at the Evin prison\u2019s visitor room after Israeli air strikes the previous month, in Tehran, on July 1, 2025. (AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP25180466143787-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tRescuers search through the rubble of a damaged section of Evin Prison following an Israeli strike the day before, in Tehran, Iran, June 24, 2025. (Mostafa Roudaki\/Mizan News Agency\/AP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AFP__20250701__64EA3CQ__v1__HighRes__IranIsraelConflictPrison-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tA man checks the debris at a room of Evin Prison\u2019s hospital, after Israeli air strikes the previous month, in Tehran, Iran, on July 1, 2025. (AFP)<\/p>\n
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