Four people have died and dozens have been injured after a fire broke out a notorious jail which houses political prisoners and anti-government activists in Iran, the country’s judiciary said on Sunday.
Flames and smoke rising from Tehran's Evin Prison had been widely visible on Saturday evening, as nationwide anti-government protests triggered by the death of a young woman in police custody entered a fifth week.
In online videos, gunshots and explosions could be heard as the fire took hold at the jail where Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori had been detained.
The blaze was extinguished after several hours and no detainees escaped, state media said.
They said the fire broke out after a fight between prisoners in one ward.
An unnamed official told the Tasnim news agency in Iran: “No security (political) prisoner was involved in the clash between prisoners, and basically the ward for security prisoners is separate and far from the wards for thieves and those convicted of financial crimes.”
The US-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran reported that an "armed conflict" broke out within the prison walls. It said shots were first heard in Ward 7 of the jail. This account could not immediately be corroborated.
Hundreds are being held at Evin, where human rights groups have reported repeated abuses of prisoners.
State media originally reported that nine people were injured but the judiciary website Mizan.news said on Sunday that four inmates died of smoke inhalation and 61 others were injured.
It said all four who died were in prison on robbery convictions.
Ten inmates were admitted to hospital, four of them in a serious condition, Mizan reported.
The prison fire occurred as protesters intensified anti-government demonstrations along main streets and at universities in some cities across Iran on Saturday. Human rights monitors reported hundreds dead, including children, as the movement concluded its fourth week.
The protests erupted after public outrage over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. She was arrested by Iran's morality police in Tehran for violating the Islamic Republic's strict dress code.
Iran's government insists Ms Amini was not mistreated in police custody, but her family says her body showed bruises and other signs of beating after she was detained.
