More than 1,300 activists, artists, and journalists from both Iran and Afghanistan have signed an open letter addressed to the Islamic Republic, calling for an immediate halt to the mass deportation of Afghans, which has intensified following the Israel war.
“We are well aware that the phrase ‘deportation of illegal migrants’ is a euphemism for inhumane treatment of all migrants—both legal and illegal,” the letter said.
The signatories say that while the Iranian government previously justified deportations with claims such as curbing rising unemployment, in the aftermath of the 12-day war with Israel, it has begun using new allegations—accusing some Afghans of being “key espionage elements and part of an infiltration network.”
Following the ceasefire with Israel, Iran launched a sweeping crackdown on Afghan migrants, targeting them for deportation under alleged national security concerns, according to officials and media reports.
According to Afghanistan International, Iranian police in multiple cities have been confiscating Afghan migrants’ mobile phones, citing suspicions of “communication with Israel.”
Migrants—even those with valid residency documents—have reported being stopped at checkpoints or avoiding travel for fear of arrest.
Iran’s interior minister said on Wednesday that 400,000 foreign nationals have been deported over the past four months.
“The injustice currently being inflicted on Afghans and other voiceless minorities is, above all, a betrayal of the core values we uphold—humanity, justice, and freedom,” the letter reads.
Some prominent dissident public figures, including actresses Taraneh Alidoosti and Lili Farhadpour as well as human rights lawyer Mehrangiz Kar are among the signatories.
Evin Prison, long a symbol of Iran’s political repression, was rocked by explosions that destroyed key facilities, including several wards, its infirmary, and the visitation hall — with immediate and devastating consequences.
Among the dead were two prison officials, Ruhollah Tavasoli and Vahid Heydarpour, as well as Evin's top prosecutor Ali Ghanaatkar. Tens of detainees, medical staff, visiting families — including a young child — and even a bystander were also killed.
A judiciary spokesman said on June 29 that 71 people had been confirmed dead, though the authorities have yet to release a full list of victims.
While Evin is widely known for holding political dissidents, journalists, students, and others charged under vague national security laws, it also houses inmates convicted of financial crimes and debt — people often awaiting bail or legal review, far removed from any political involvement.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) condemned the strike as a “grave breach of international humanitarian law,” stressing that Evin Prison “was not a military objective.”
Names, not statistics
The victims of the June 23 strike are emerging not as statistics, but as lives brutally cut short.
Mehrad had accompanied his mother, Zahra Ebadi, one of seven prison social workers confirmed killed. Witnesses said Mehrad was playing in a prison playroom while his mother helped inmates draft letters.
When the first missile hit, a colleague rushed to shield him, but a concrete slab collapsed on them both. Neither survived.
Leila Jafarzadeh, a young mother of a one-year-old girl, had come to post bail for her husband, reportedly imprisoned over a financial dispute. Her body was found two days later, after her family scoured hospitals and morgues across Tehran in desperation.
Another victim, Mehrangiz Imanpour, wasn’t even inside the prison. A painter and longtime Tehran resident, she had stepped out for a walk near her home just 200 meters from the facility when the blast hit.
Her ex-husband, Reza Khandan Mahabadi, a former political prisoner, later found her body in the morgue.
“Mehrangiz was the beauty in the lives of my children,” he wrote on Instagram. “The war between two reactionary and warmongering regimes took the beauty of their lives away two days ago.”
Media reports suggest other victims included two prison doctors, a nurse, and several administrative staff and guards — many of them young conscripts, unarmed and unprepared.
Relocation of prisoners
In the aftermath of the strike, survivors described frantic and at times violent evacuations.
“We were handcuffed, chained together and violently dragged out,” said Mostafa Tajzadeh, a prominent dissident, in a phone call to his family.
Inmates were transferred to Greater Tehran Prison, Ghezel Hesar, and the notorious Qarchak Women’s Prison, where they now face severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and a shortage of food and clean water.
Some injured or ill prisoners have reportedly been denied medical treatment and left without access to vital prescription medications.
Meanwhile, many families still have no information on the fate of their loved ones.
Among the missing is Motahareh Goonei, a student activist arrested early in the Israel-Iran war after posting criticism of Iran’s leadership online. She was reportedly held in Ward 209, operated by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. Her family has not heard from her since the attack.
Also missing are Ahmadreza Jalali, a Swedish-Iranian physician on death row, and French nationals Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who are held on widely disputed espionage charges. Their families have been denied all contact and updates.
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.
