Iran moves female prisoners to ‘hellhole’ cattle farm jail

Qarchak prison has been sanctioned by the US on the basis of extrajudicial killings, torture and other violations of human rights - Tahmineh Rahmani/Fars News Agency/Creative Commons

Iran moved female inmates to a “hellhole” detention centre in the wake of an Israeli air strike on Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.

Missiles struck the site, where dissidents are jailed to silence them, on Monday morning, the day before Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire ending their 12-day war.

The Telegraph has learnt that guards moved prisoners from the facility after the strike, with women being taken to Qarchak prison, a former livestock facility that has been converted into a detention centre 40 miles south of the Iranian capital.

Humanitarian groups have issued frequent alerts about the centre, which is sanctioned by the US on the basis of extrajudicial killings, torture and other violations of human rights.

Iranian authorities have launched a wave of arrests across the country since the fragile truce was struck, detaining more than 700 people on espionage charges.

The Islamic Republic has used international tensions as a cover while it cracks down on dissent at home and steps up retributions.

The regime has been significantly weakened, and clerics are said to have become paranoid and wary of a challenge to their grip on power.

However, since Israel’s war with Iran started, the Tehran regime has stopped arresting women for not wearing headscarves, with analysts saying it wanted public support as it was put under pressure by the bombing campaign by Israel and the US.

But women protesters still suffer in prison. Many women arrested during the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests were moved to Qarchak prison, where some remain.

In an audio recording, a woman named Sayeh Seydal described being moved from Evin prison to Qarchak in the wake of Monday’s air strike.

“The American and Israeli bombing didn’t kill us, but the Islamic Republic has brought us to a place where it’s practically killing us,” Ms Seydal said in the recording smuggled out of the country.

“They’ve brought us to a place where humans don’t live. It’s a gradual death.”

Ms Seydal is serving three years for social media posts deemed unacceptable to the Iranian regime, and had been imprisoned at Evin since October 2024.

After the explosion, special guards reportedly attacked prisoners and began to move them.

According to Ms Seydal’s recording, the conditions defy basic human dignity. “They’ve crammed everyone into a quarantine ward – a real hellhole,” she said.

“The toilets are like outdoor latrines. The showers? Like outdoor showers. The stench of filth has taken over everywhere. Even the water – the water you splash on your face – is salty. The food? It absolutely cannot be eaten. A terrible situation.

“The Islamic Republic has brought us to a place where it seems they want to get revenge for Israel and America and just kill us off easily.”

An excavator removes rubble from the remains of Evin prison in Tehran after Israeli strikes - MOSTAFA ROUDAKI/mizanonline/AFP via Getty

Qarchak lacks prison standards that even the livestock once enjoyed. There is no proper sewage system or access to clean water, according to human rights groups

There are no windows, and when the iron gates to outdoor areas close at 5pm, inmates stare at walls with only two small holes, “the size of lentils,” for glimpses of the sky.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 women are held at Qarchak throughout most of the year. Each hall was designed for fewer than 100 people, but they typically house over 150. At times, the number has reached 600, leaving prisoners without space to sleep, even on the floor.

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The detention centre is infested with cockroaches, rats, salamanders, lizards, water bugs and venomous tarantulas, according to human rights activists and former prisoners.

Medical care is severely limited, with only five prisoners per ward allowed daily medical visits, and while prison authorities claim budget constraints prevent the provision of essential medications, they freely distribute sleeping pills and tranquillisers to keep prisoners sedated.

Most of Qarchak’s inmates are women from marginalised and impoverished backgrounds, among the most vulnerable sectors of Iranian society.

Qarchak also holds children up to the age of four with their imprisoned mothers.

The children endure the same harsh conditions, and having seen no men during their imprisonment, often become frightened when encountering men after leaving prison

“Qarchak prison is a symbol of the blatant denial of humanity and human dignity,” said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of Norway-based Iran human rights organisation.

“The continued operation of such facilities is a stain on the conscience of the world.”

Iran’s judiciary said the transfers were conducted to “respect prisoners’ rights” and “provide better services”.

Women inmates in their cell at Evin prison, which has been used to detain political prisoners since it opened in 1972 - Atta Kenare/AFP

The conditions in Evin prison were already dire.

Established in 1972, it has become notorious for its use by the Tehran regime to detain political prisoners, including British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was released from Iran in 2022.

After the Israeli strike, family members of other foreign detainees expressed concerns about their loved ones’ safety, with relatives saying they had no information about their status.

The aftermath of an Israeli air strike on the administrative buildings and courthouse of Tehran’s Evin prison - Mizan Online

While Iran’s judiciary confirmed the strike, Iran has not released official casualty figures or disclosed the current status of transferred prisoners.

One prisoner who was able to call his family was Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian-Swedish academic who has been on death row since 2017.

But his wife Vida Mehrannia said she has not spoken with her husband since after the strikes on Monday, when he called to say he had survived. She is increasingly worried.

Conditions at Evin prison were dire before the air strikes. In 2022 a blaze in the jail’s workshop killed four inmates

“He called and said he was OK, but parts of Evin had been destroyed and they were being moved somewhere,” she said. “I’ve had no news from him since.”

Mr Djalali was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to death the following year on charges of espionage for Israel’s Mossad.

Asked how worried she is about the latest developments, Ms Mehrannia asked The Telegraph: “Are they going to execute him? He was very worried and said that two of his cellmates have so far been executed.”

She added: “The situation in Iran is not good, but ours is worse than anyone else’s. They’ve taken our lives away for the past nine years. I just hope they leave us alone.”

“Why do they insist someone is a Mossad spy when he isn’t,” she asked. “He is not a Mossad spy, but they keep insisting he is – and it’s punishing.”

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