Iran · Tehran · Tehran
Evin Prison
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For families
How to send mail, money, and visit Evin Prison
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Gallery
From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).
Photo by Jadi from Iran via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Photo by Koosha Mahshid Falahi via Wikimedia Commons (Attribution)
Photo by Koosha Mahshid Falahi via Wikimedia Commons (Attribution)
Photo by Koosha Mahshid Falahi via Wikimedia Commons (Attribution)
Photo by Koosha Mahshid Falahi via Wikimedia Commons (Attribution)
Photo by Koosha Mahshid Falahi via Wikimedia Commons (Attribution)
Photo by Koosha Mahshid Falahi via Wikimedia Commons (Attribution)
Photo by Koosha Mahshid Falahi via Wikimedia Commons (Attribution)
Prison in Tehran, Iran | | | Location | [Evin | | | Status | Operational | | Capacity | est. 15,000 (1983)[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evin_Prison#cite_note-FOOTNOTEAbrahamian1999135-1) | | Opened | 1972; 54 years ago (1972) | | Managed by | Judicial system of Iran | | Warden | Hamid Mohammadi[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evin_Prison#cite_note-2) | | City | Tehran | | Country | Iran | | Notable prisoners | | Narges Mohammadi, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi, Maziar Bahari Evin Prison Evin Prison ( Persian: زندان اوین, romanized: _Zendân-e-Evin_) is a prison located in the Evin neighborhood of Tehran, Iran. Established in 1972, and particularly notorious since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, it has become the Islamic Republic's most infamous detention facility. The prison serves as the primary site for incarcerating political prisoners, journalists, academics, human rights activists, dual nationals, and foreign citizens accused of espionage or propaganda offenses.[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evin_Prison#cite_note-3) The prison has become internationally known for its systematic human rights abuses.
Background
Evin Prison (Persian: زÙدا٠اÙÛÙ, romanized: Zendân-e-Evin) is a prison located in the Evin neighborhood of Tehran, Iran. Established in 1972, and particularly notorious since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, it has become the Islamic Republic's most infamous detention facility. The prison serves as the primary site for incarcerating political prisoners, journalists, academics, human rights activists, dual nationals, and foreign citizens accused of espionage or propaganda offenses. The prison has become internationally known for its systematic human rights abuses. Numerous reports document torture methods such as beatings, electric shocks, mock executions, prolonged solitary confinement, forced confessions, sleep deprivation, and sexual abuse.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
15,000
Current population
—
Occupancy
—
Year opened
1963
Operational
Facility profile
Operator
—
Population held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
1963
Region
Tehran
Security level
—
Death-row facility
No
Conditions
(Beirut) – Thousands of detainees in Iran, including political prisoners and children, are at risk of injury and death from US and Israeli strikes, as well as atrocities by Iran’s authorities, including mass, arbitrary, and secret executions, Human Rights Watch and Kurdistan Human Rights Network said today. have been hearing loud and terrifying explosions,” said the relative of a prisoner in the notorious Evin Prison. “They have felt them to have been very close, but their access is even more limited \[than people outside\] to know where the strikes are actually happening ... one of the nights when there were terrible explosions … at around 2:00 a.m., they could feel over 20 explosion shock waves in their ward in the span of an hour.” Those detained are also facing deteriorating prison conditions in a system already known for poor conditions and systematic and deliberate denial of medical care to prisoners. Sources told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network and Human Rights Watch that since the start of the armed conflict there had been a drop in both the quantity and quality of food and that prisoners were denied access to medication and medical care outside of prison. ights organizations, a number of strikes have targeted locations in proximity to prisons, including Evin Prison and the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, Isfahan Central Prison in Isfahan province, Mahabad Prison in West Azerbaijan province, and Zanjan Central Prison in Zanjan province, while at least one, Marivan [...] (per Human Rights Watch)
Visiting
No visiting information available.
Mailing
No mailing information available.
Practical info
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
Known issues
No major issues documented in our database.
Notable inmates
Nasser Zarafshan1947 · writerNasser Zarafshan (Persian: Ùاصر زراÙشاÙ; born 1946) is an Iranian writer, translator, and attorney.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh1936–1982 · politician
Ehsan Tabari1917–1989 · writerEhsan Tabari (Persian: اØسا٠طبرÛ; 8 February 1917 â 29 April 1989) was an Iranian philosopher, poet, and literary figure who contributed to the modernization of literature and cultural debates in twentieth-century Iran.
- Yishmael Movassaghian1901–1996 · politician
Narges Mohammadi1972 · human rights defenderNarges Mohammadi (Persian: Ùرگس Ù Ø٠دÛ; born 21 April 1972) is an Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani1969 · entrepreneurMehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani (Persian: Ù ÙØ¯Û ÙØ§Ø´Ù Û Ø±ÙسÙجاÙÛ; born 20 September 1969) is an Iranian businessman and the fourth child of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former president of Iran.
Kasra Nouri1990 · editor-in-chiefKasra Nouri (Persian: Ú©Ø³Ø±Û ÙÙرÛ) is an Iranian journalist and political activist.
- Marzieh Rasouli1953 · journalist
Marzieh Rasouli (Persian: ٠رضÛ٠رسÙÙÛ) is an Iranian journalist who writes about culture and the arts for several of Iran's reformist and independent publications.
Fatemeh Ekhtesari1986 · poetFateme Ekhtesari, also Fatemeh Ekhtesari, (born 1986) is an Iranian poet and writer.
Showing 9 of 12. Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.
Contact & address
No public contact details available.
Conditions Risk Score
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
- Overcrowding
- 0/30
- Oversight reports
- 1/30
- Structural flags
- 0/15
- Death signals
- 5/15
- Conditions text
- 0/10
What the score is responding to:
- · 1 oversight report in the last 5 years
- · In-custody-death signal in sources
Compared to other facilities in Iran
233 peersReports
- HRW1 Jan 2026
(Beirut) – Thousands of detainees in Iran, including political prisoners and children, are at risk of injury and death from US and Israeli strikes, as well as atrocities by Iran’s authorities, including mass, arbitrary, and secret executions, Human Rights Watch and Kurdistan Human Rights Network said today. have been hearing loud and terrifying explosions,” said the relative of a prisoner in the notorious Evin Prison. “They have felt them to have been very close, but their access is even more limited \[than people outside\] to know where the strikes are actually happening ... one of the nights when there were terrible explosions … at around 2:00 a.m., they could feel over 20 explosion shock waves in their ward in the span of an hour.” Those detained are also facing deteriorating prison conditions in a system already known for poor conditions and systematic and deliberate denial of medical care to prisoners. Sources told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network and Human Rights Watch that since the start of the armed conflict there had been a drop in both the quantity and quality of food and that prisoners were denied access to medication and medical care outside of prison. ights organizations, a number of strikes have targeted locations in proximity to prisons, including Evin Prison and the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, Isfahan Central Prison in Isfahan province, Mahabad Prison in West Azerbaijan province, and Zanjan Central Prison in Zanjan province, while at least one, Marivan [...] (per Human Rights Watch)
Data completeness
52%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikipedia — Wikimedia Foundation
- List of prisons in Iran — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
- Wikidata (Q387503)
- Wikipedia
- Wikimedia Commons
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.