GENEVA – A UN investigation has concluded that Israel’s 2025 airstrike on Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison constituted a war crime, with warnings of heightened repression risks from current US-Israeli operations.
The June 2025 attack killed over 70 people, according to Iranian officials, targeting the facility infamous for housing political prisoners. Recent US-Israeli strikes have further damaged the jail, endangering inmates including a British couple.
Sara Hossain, chair of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, told the UN Human Rights Council on March 16: “We found reasonable grounds to believe that Israel committed the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against a civilian object.” Her report, drawing from victim interviews, satellite imagery, and documents, confirmed 80 deaths, including a child and eight women.
Israel, which quit the council, offered no immediate comment from its prime minister’s office, foreign ministry, or military.
Hossain decried rising civilian tolls and cautioned that bombings could fuel Iran’s domestic crackdowns, noting execution spikes post-2025 strikes. “External military action does not provide accountability or bring meaningful change. Instead, it risks intensifying domestic repression,” she warned.
UN expert Mai Sato raised alarms over detainees from January protests, citing severed family contacts and shortages of food and medicine. Iran’s ambassador Ali Bahreini urged council condemnation of the strikes, claiming over 1,300 Iranian deaths.