Hedayatollah Farzadi, the head of Iran’s notorious Evin Prison fled the site moments before Israeli airstrikes, Fox News reported Saturday, citing leaked messages between Israeli intelligence and Farzadi's son.
Israeli agents warned Amir-Hossein Farzadi that his father would be targeted unless political prisoners were released.
“It will happen in a few minutes,” one message read. Amir relayed the threat to his uncle, who then evacuated Farzadi from the prison compound just before the deadly strikes, the report said.
The Tehran Province Prisons Department dismissed the report, saying that Farzadi was inspecting the prison wards at the time of the strike.
Farzadi has led the notorious prison since 2022 and has been sanctioned by the US and EU for human rights abuses.
“Numerous protesters have been sent to Evin Prison… where they have been subjected to torture and other forms of physical abuse,” the US Treasury Department said in April.
Prior to Evin, Farzadi served at prisons in Kermanshah and Tehran where he oversaw amputations, torture, and alleged sexual violence against inmates. He remains on the US Specially Designated Nationals list.
Throughout its 12-day war on Iran, Israel launched strikes on key state organs tasked with domestic surveillance, protest suppression, detention and propaganda, targeting what it called “repression infrastructure.”
The attacks focused on intelligence and security agencies, judicial and detention systems, and officials overseeing internal control.
Israel framed the strikes as a show of solidarity with Iranian protesters and an effort to disrupt the Islamic Republic’s repressive capacity.
