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Boston Globe
02-08-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Iran is holding at least 4 American citizens, rights groups and families say
The detentions are likely to increase the tense political climate between Tehran and Washington after the United States joined Israel's attack on Iran and bombarded and severely damaged three of its nuclear sites in June. Advertisement Nuclear negotiations with Washington have not resumed since the war in June, but Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said this past week in an interview with local news media that he and the U.S. special envoy, Steve Witkoff, have been communicating directly through text messages. President Donald Trump has said that he would not tolerate countries' wrongful detention of Americans and that their release is a top priority for his administration. Witkoff's office did not respond to a question on whether the detention of dual American citizens was brought up in communications with Araghchi. The State Department has said that it is 'closely tracking' reports of Americans being detained in Iran. 'For privacy, safety and operational reasons, we do not get into the details of our internal or diplomatic discussions on reported U.S. detainees,' it said in a statement Monday. 'We call on Iran to immediately release all unjustly detained individuals in Iran.' Advertisement Iran's mission to the United Nations declined to comment on the detentions. Iran's Ministry of Intelligence said in a statement on Monday that it had arrested at least 20 people who were working as spies or operatives for Israel in cities across Iran. The four detained Iranian Americans had all lived in the United States and had traveled to Iran to visit family, according to the rights groups. The families of three of the Americans have asked that their names not be published for fear it could make their situations worse. Two of the four were arrested by security agents in the immediate aftermath of Israel's attacks on Iran in June, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (or HRANA) and Hengaw, independent rights groups based outside Iran. One is a 70-year-old Jewish father and grandfather from New York who has a jewelry business. He is being questioned about a trip to Israel, according to the rights groups and the man's colleagues and friends. The other is a woman from California who was held in the notorious Evin prison. But her whereabouts is now unclear after Israel attacked Evin in June and the prison was evacuated, according to rights groups and Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian British scholar who was imprisoned in Iran for two years and released in 2020. Iran is also holding another Iranian American woman, who was first imprisoned and prevented from leaving the country in December 2024. She is currently out of prison, but her Iranian and American passports were confiscated, according to her U.S.-based lawyer who asked not to be named to discuss sensitive information. Advertisement The woman works for a U.S. technology company and runs a charity for underprivileged children in Iran. But after the recent war, the Iranian judiciary elevated her case and charged her with espionage, according to her lawyer -- a serious crime that can carry many years in prison and even the death penalty. At least one other Iranian American citizen, journalist Reza Valizadeh, is imprisoned in Iran. He is a former employee of Radio Farda, the Persian-language news outlet that is part of the State Department-funded Radio Free Europe. Radio Farda has said in a statement that he was arrested in October 2024 while visiting family in Iran. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of 'collaborating with a hostile government.' Two senior Iranian officials who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly confirmed that Iran had recently detained two dual American citizens -- the New York man and the California woman. They said it was part of a wider crackdown focused on finding a network of operatives linked to Israel and United States. The crackdown comes as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has encouraged Iranians in the diaspora to return to Iran. He said recently that he would speak with the ministries of intelligence and judiciary to facilitate those returns, according to local news reports. 'We have to create a framework so that Iranians living abroad can come to Iran without fear,' Pezeshkian said. But Ali Vaez, the Iran director for the International Crisis Group, said recently: 'The Iranian government has a sordid history of cracking down domestically following intelligence failures, and seizing foreign nationals as a cynical form of leverage. And at a time when Tehran and the Trump administration are already at loggerheads over nuclear diplomacy, the arrests could add another significant area of contention.' Advertisement The State Department issued a new warning after the war, telling Americans not to travel to Iran 'under any circumstances.' In a statement in English and Persian, it says that Americans, including Iranian Americans, 'have been wrongfully detained -- taken hostage -- by the Iranian government for months, and years. The threat of detention is even greater today.' The news of the Americans' detentions has rattled the Iranian American community, including several people previously detained in Iran. Many of them are often the first point of contact for families who find themselves navigating the frightening ordeal of having a loved one arrested in Iran. Siamak Namazi, an Iranian American businessperson who was held for eight years in Iran before being released as part of a U.S.-Iran deal in 2023, said that since the war with Israel, the number of Americans detained in Iran has grown. 'Some cases are public; others remain under wraps, often due to poor advice that silence is safer,' he said. 'Securing their release must be a core U.S. priority in any future diplomatic engagement with Tehran,' added Namazi, who is on the board of Hostage Aid Worldwide. In New York's tight-knit Jewish Iranian circles, news of one member's detention spread quickly and brought anxiety. Iran has arrested at least five Jewish Iranians in its postwar crackdown and has summoned 35 more for questioning, according to Skylar Thompson, deputy director of HRANA. Advertisement This article originally appeared in
Shafaq News
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Iran foils 23 assassination attempts during war with Israel
Shafaq News – Tehran Iran's Ministry of Intelligence announced, on Monday, that it had dismantled a US-led intelligence campaign allegedly launched during the recent 12-day war with Israel to destabilize the country. In an official statement, the ministry accused Washington of coordinating with Israel, several European governments, opposition factions, and extremist groups to conduct a hybrid war involving espionage, cyberattacks, psychological operations, and efforts to spark internal unrest. Iranian intelligence reported intercepting 23 assassination attempts targeting senior officials during the conflict, in addition to 13 separate plots thwarted in recent months, bringing the total to 35, while also claiming to have dismantled Mossad-linked spy rings and arrested 20 suspects in Tehran, Isfahan, Khuzestan, Kurdistan, and West Azerbaijan. The ministry further announced the shutdown of a covert base allegedly sheltering 300 foreign fighters preparing to infiltrate Iran, adding that it had disrupted recruitment by the 'United Front of Balochistan,' a separatist group Tehran accuses of operating with Israeli support. On the domestic front, the ministry reported intensifying crackdowns on sabotage cells, cyber operations, and what it described as deviant religious movements, including the Baha'i community, which it labeled as a foreign-backed threat.
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First Post
23-06-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Evin Prison: Why Israel struck Iran's most infamous jail
Israel on Monday said it hit multiple locations in Iran, including the Evin Prison in Tehran and the Security headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The country's most feared detention centre is referred to as the 'black hole' of the justice system. But why is Tel Aviv singling out the jail, infamous for its treatment of inmates? read more Israel has hit Iran's most infamous prison on Monday. Israel said it hit multiple locations including the Evin Prison and the Security headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Tel Aviv also said it struck roads surrounding Iran's Fordo enrichment facility. This came a day after the United States conducted strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran. But what happened? And what do we know about the Evin Prison in Tehran? Let's take a closer look: STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD What do we know about Evin Prison? The prison is located in Iran's capital Tehran. Read latest updates about America joining Israel-Iran war here. It is run by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and the IRCG – which reports directly to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Spanning over five hectares, it is said to hold between 10,000 and 15,000 inmates. It is infamous for mistreatment of its inmates who include political prisoners, foreigners and dual nationals. It was built in 1971 in the foothills of northern Tehran prior to the Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran. The Shah also used it to hold thousands of political prisoners – many of whom were tortured and killed. The prison at the time was operated by the Savak – the Shah's secret police. In 1988, after the revolution, thousands of people were executed at the Evin Prison after show trials. The people who have been imprisoned there have long alleged torture and abuse. Evin Prison was built in 1971 under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, also known as the Shah of Iran. Wikimedia Commons Anoosheh Ashoori, a British-Iranian businessman, was visiting his mother in Iran when he was arrested by authorities on charges of spying for Israel. 'The situation in hall 12 was extremely dire. We struggled with bed bugs, cockroaches, huge rats, and foul food,' Ashoori told DW. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD He added that up to 70 people lived in just four rooms in hall 12. Ashoori alleged 'psychological torture' at the hands of the authorities. 'I had one main interrogator, but most of the time, I could feel the presence of others in those small interrogation rooms,' he said. 'They were making threats that they would harm my family members,' he added. Ashoori was only released after the UK government paid Iran a hefty sum. Lebanese businessman Nizar Zakka had a similar experience. He too spent four years at Evin after being accused of spying – but for the United States. Zakka was in ward 7 which had around 20 people in a room that measured five square metres. 'The interrogator came every six weeks, asking if I had anything to say, and I'd say no, and I would be sent back.' Zakka, unlike Ashoori, was physically tortured. 'When you don't answer their questions, they make you stand or sit in an uncomfortable position until you get tired and faint… Then they start walking around talking to each other, and step on your hand,' he said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD He was only released after years of campaigning – and a request from Lebanese President Michel Aoun. Those considered political prisoners – charged with 'spreading corruption on Earth' and 'enmity against God' often have a much tougher time of it than regular inmates. According to Amnesty International, prisoners at Evin have suffered beatings, electric shock, and sexual humiliation at the hands of authorities. Nargess Mohammadi, a Nobel laureate, is among those who has accused guards and interrogators of sexual assault. Evin Prison in northern Tehran. Image courtesy: X According to Human Rights Watch, sensory deprivation is another tactic authorities at the prison's ward 209 often employ against inmates. Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian documentarian and Narges Mohammadi (who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023) were among the other famous people that were housed in Evin. Mohammadi has been released temporarily in order to receive medical care. Jason Rezaian of the Washington Post and dual nationals like the 'Bahá'í 7' have also been held at Evin. Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi died at 2003 in Evin. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Those running the prison have been targeted by both the United States and the European Union. What happened? Why has Iran targeted Evin Prison? Iranian state TV said an airstrike hit the gate of Evin Prison. The report shared what appeared to be black-and-white-surveillance footage of the strike. Israel is likely choosing targets like Evin Prison – a symbol of the regime – to put pressure on the Iranian authorities. 'The Iranian dictator will be punished with full force for attacking the Israeli home front,' the Israeli defence ministry said. According to The Guardian, human rights lawyer Mohammed Najafi, activist Reza Khandan are among those detained in the prison. Some prisoners have reportedly been hurt in Israel's airstrike. But Iran's Nournews said that families of detainees in Evin prison 'should know they are safe'. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz. File image/ Reuters Israel has also targeted Tehran's Palestine Square, and the paramilitary Basij volunteer corps building. This comes as more and more officials in the US including President Donald Trump are calling for 'regime change' in Tehran. 'If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change???' Trump wrote on social media. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Iran described its Monday attack on Israel as a new wave of its Operation 'True Promise 3,' saying it was targeting the Israeli cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv, according to Iranian state television. Explosions were also heard in Jerusalem. There were no immediate reports of damage. Earlier Monday, Iranian General Abdolrahim Mousavi, the chief of joint staff of armed forces, warned Washington its strikes had given Iranian forces a 'free hand " to 'act against US interests and its army.' Tens of thousands of American troops are based in West Asia, many in locations within range of short-range Iranian missiles. With inputs from agencies
India Today
23-06-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Israel bombs Iran's notorious Evin Prison, used to detain dissidents, foreigners
Israel bombed Iran's notorious Evin Prison on Monday, a symbolic strike aimed at dismantling the Islamic Republic's use of state machinery to crush Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed the attack, saying forces targeted Evin Prison as part of a broader series of strikes on Tehran. 'This prison holds political opponents and voices of dissent,' he precision strikes damaged the heavily fortified main gate and nearby administrative buildings at the prison. Videos circulating online showed the smouldering wreckage of the prison Iranian media claimed the strike was intended to breach the entrance to allow prisoners to escape. Israeli officials did not confirm or deny it, but Foreign Minister Gideon Saar posted footage of the bombing on X, captioning it with the phrase 'Long live freedom' in warned Iran time and again: stop targeting civilians!They continued, including this response:Viva la libertad, carajo!@JMilei Gideon Sa'ar | (@gidonsaar) June 23, 2025IRAN'S MOST FEARED DETENTION CENTRELocated in the foothills of northern Tehran, Evin Prison was constructed in 1971 and quickly earned notoriety during Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's iron-fisted rule. Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the facility was repurposed to house the overthrown Shah's allies—and later, disillusioned revolutionaries Evin is run by multiple security agencies including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Intelligence. The prison holds between 10,000 to 15,000 inmates, including political prisoners, protesters, journalists, and foreign nationals accused of national security facility is infamous for torture, arbitrary detention, and denial of due process. Amnesty International's 2020 report Trampling Humanity documented widespread abuse at Evin, including beatings, electric shocks, sexual assault, and sensory 209, controlled by intelligence operatives, is particularly feared for deploying 'white torture', a prolonged form of solitary confinement designed to psychologically break inmates, according to Human Rights DIPLOMACYEvin has become a focal point of international human rights concerns, particularly due to its role in Iran's practice of detaining foreign 2003, Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died at the prison 18 days after her arrest. She was 55. An autopsy found signs of torture and sexual journalist Jason Rezaian, who used to be the Washington Post's Tehran bureau chief, spent 18 months inside Evin under espionage recent years, Western governments have accused Iran of using such detainees in 'hostage diplomacy,' exchanging prisoners for political or economic was the case with British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. She was sentenced to 5 years in prison on trumped-up national security charges, and freed in 2022 after the UK government conceded to settle a long-standing debt with ABUSE OF WOMEN INMATESThe abuse inside Evin extends uniquely to women prisoners. In 2022, imprisoned Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi published a letter detailing sexual violence, harassment, and humiliation by male guards and who were detained on political charges for participating in anti-government demonstrations after the death of Mahsa Amini told the BBC how they were subjected to beatings, multiple daily interrogations lasting hours, solitary confinement and threats of torture of family members by Evin say medical neglect and denial of basic hygiene products further exacerbate conditions for women inside the MESSAGEThe strike on Evin represents more than a military escalation. It signals Israel's targeting of the symbolic heart of Iran's domestic repression apparatus. Human rights organisations and governments worldwide have condemned conditions at Evin for striking its gates, Israel may be sending a message to both the Iranian regime and the international community that it views the prison not merely as infrastructure, but as a weapon of oppression.- EndTune InMust Watch
Spectator
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Israel is right to strike Evin prison
Israeli announced today that it has launched an unprecedented strike against regime targets in central Tehran, including the notorious Evin prison. Evin is infamous for holding foreign hostages and dual nationals, many of whom are detained by the regime as part of what human rights groups call 'hostage diplomacy'. It has long been associated with arbitrary detention, torture, forced confessions and inhumane conditions, especially for political prisoners and those accused of spying or threatening national security. The facility is run by the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards, serving as the central site for imprisoning those accused of anti-regime activity. Foreign and dual nationals are often arrested on vague charges such as 'espionage' or 'collaborating with hostile states'. In many cases, these charges are unsubstantiated and used as leverage in international negotiations, as was the case with British Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Conditions inside Evin are harsh, including solitary confinement, denial of legal access, threats against family members and psychological and physical abuse. These strikes mark a significant widening of Israel's military focus, from largely nuclear, ballistic missile, and aerial defence targets, to those which represent the regime's ideological and repressive core: its prison system, security headquarters, and propaganda symbols. It suggests a strategic intent not merely to deter or disrupt, but to help bring down the theocratic dictatorship that holds both its own people and foreign nationals in a state of constant fear. We should be clear-eyed and unambiguous: this is a welcome development. Israel is striking not only to defend itself but to undermine one of the most repressive systems on Earth. If Evin's walls are breached and its victims walk free, that will be a day of liberation, for Iranians and for the foreign hostages whose only crime was to enter a country run by sadistic, ruthless hostage-takers. Earlier in the week it was reported that French President Emmanuel Macron had called on the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to release the two French citizens of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, denouncing their 'inhumane detention.' France, of course, is not alone. Citizens of the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Canada, the United States and others have also been taken by the regime in Iran – journalists, activists, academics, tourists – all swept into a system of arbitrary detention that has become a defining feature of the Islamic theocracy's foreign relations. Kohler, a literature teacher, and her partner Jacques Paris, a retired mathematics teacher, were arrested in 2022 while visiting Iran as tourists. Authorities loyal to the regime accused them of espionage and broadcast a forced confession video shortly after their arrest. The French government has consistently rejected the charges, insisting the pair were innocent travellers. After the US struck Iran, Macron called for the most European of demands: 'de-escalation and maximum restraint' and 'a return to the diplomatic path', but Israel's latest approach might prove more productive. These detainees remain imprisoned, almost always with little to no contact, enduring conditions their families describe as torture. Their relatives have grown increasingly frustrated, warning that high-level diplomacy has failed to secure even basic humanitarian relief, but Macron's demands have at least draw overdue attention back to the issue of foreign nationals imprisoned without due process. Iran's regime strategy of hostage-taking serves multiple aims. It provides leverage in negotiations. It intimidates dissidents and dual nationals abroad. And it signals to the world that the Islamic Republic does not recognise the basic norms of sovereignty, legality or human dignity. To speak of Iran under the Islamic regime as a state actor among others, merely difficult or obstinate, is to misunderstand it. It is an adversarial power that does not merely reject the rules-based international order, it seeks to undermine and replace it with a logic of fear and submission. The regime in Tehran does not act in isolation. It is emboldened by years of impunity The stories are harrowing. Ahmad Reza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian academic, sentenced to death on fabricated charges, kept in solitary confinement for years. Olivier Vandecasteele, a Belgian humanitarian, given 28 years following a sham trial. Nahid Taghavi, a German-Iranian women's rights advocate, whose health is failing in prison. The mutilated corpse of Jamshid 'Jimmy' Sharmahd was recently returned to his family after the German‑Iranian journalist and software engineer had been abducted by Islamic Republic agents from Dubai in July 2020, and reportedly held in Evin prison, enduring years of torture and the denial of medical care. He was murdered in October 2024, with neither the USA nor Germany having made appropriate efforts to free him and the other hostages. The regime in Tehran does not act in isolation. It is emboldened by years of impunity. Western governments have, for too long, attempted to resolve these abductions quietly, bilaterally and often secretively. The impulse is understandable: protect the hostages, avoid provocation, preserve diplomacy. But it has failed. Indeed, it has encouraged more detentions. The Islamic regime in Iran has learned that the West will negotiate, will relent, will pay. And so it has continued. The nuclear file is not separate from the human rights file. A regime that tortures academics and tourists cannot be trusted with uranium enrichment. A state that broadcasts forced confessions cannot be relied upon to honour international agreements. The Islamic Republic regime poses a strategic and moral threat not just to its neighbours, not just to the West, but to the world. It is in this light that the boldness of Israel's ongoing actions must be understood. Confronted with an existential threat, surrounded by proxies of the Islamic Republic, and under direct threat from a regime that openly declares its intent to destroy it, Israel has acted with clarity. The broader international community must now catch up, if not for Israel's sake, for its own, and in defence of the principle that civilians are not bargaining chips. The Islamic republic has proven itself time and again to be a hostile regime waging asymmetric war against the civilised world. The time for unity, for strength, and for moral clarity has come. The prisoners in Evin, in Kerman, in undisclosed cells across Iran, deserve nothing less.
