Amnesty calls on Iran to release unconvicted prisoners threatened by Israel

Human rights group Amnesty International has pointed out the danger to prison inmates from the US-Israel war of aggression and has called on Iran’s government to release any held without trial.

The US and some human rights groups claim Iran is holding tens of thousands of political prisoners. Difficulty in verifying this lies partly in US political motives for painting Iran as evil and partly in Iran’s unwillingness to release prisoners it considers to be agitators.

Amnesty wants those who have not been convicted to be released so they can seek shelter. In an announcement on its website, the group said:

Ongoing US and Israeli air strikes near prisons in Iran are placing prisoners – including children – at grave risk, Amnesty International said today, urging Iranian authorities to immediately release all those arbitrarily detained and grant humanitarian release to others imprisoned.

Air strikes near prisons and the targeting of security facilities where detainees are held are putting prisoners in danger of death or serious harm. Direct attacks on civilian objects such as prisons constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.

Alarmingly, the organisation said it had received reports prisoners were being transferred to unidentified locations:

Amnesty has received reports that some prisoners have been transferred to unidentified locations or areas close to potential military objectives, intensifying concerns for their safety. Authorities have also subjected some detainees to enforced disappearance and denied prisoners access to adequate food and water, including the failure of electronic cards used to purchase food and water from prison shops.

Those at risk include thousands detained following nationwide protests between December 2025 and January 2026, including protesters, human rights defenders, lawyers, medical workers, university students and members of ethnic and religious minorities. Others at risk include individuals serving long prison sentences and those sentenced to death.

According to informed sources, officials told prisoners held on politically motivated charges at facilities including Evin prison and Urumieh prison in early March that they would not be eligible for release, while prisoners convicted of ordinary crimes could receive temporary release.

Iran’s internet shutdown imposed since 28 February has severely restricted access to information about prison conditions, and the number of detention facilities affected by nearby explosions may be significantly higher.In a letter dated 3 March to the Head of the Judiciary, human rights defender Reza Khandan, arbitrarily detained in Evin prison, warned about the risks facing prisoners amid ongoing air strikes. Referring to the Israeli military’s air strikes on Evin prison on 23 June 2025, which Amnesty has called to be investigated as a war crime, he wrote that previous warnings from prisoners had been ignored before dozens of prisoners, staff, and family members were killed.

Reza said:

It has now been four days since the US and Israeli attack on Iran, and today our warnings and reminders have not been effective. Thousands of unlawfully detained prisoners remain trapped in prisons under the threat of bombardment day and night, and many essential services to prisoners have been cut off. If immediate action is not taken to release prisoners and the horrific and criminal event of the 12-day war or worse and more severe than that occurs you must be held accountable before justice.

Amnesty continued:

According to informed sources, explosions from air strikes targeting buildings of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting near the Evin prison complex on 3 March were so powerful that prisoners feared the prison itself had been struck.

Following the Israeli military’s air strikes on Evin prison in June 2025, Iranian authorities transferred hundreds of prisoners to other facilities in Tehran province known for cruel and inhuman conditions, including Shahr-e Ray prison (Gharchak) and the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary, where prisoners have reported severe overcrowding and denial of medical care.

Iranian authorities have arbitrarily detained thousands of protesters and dissidents since nationwide protests erupted on 28 December 2025. Amnesty has documented widespread due process violations, including denial of access to lawyers from the time of arrest, the use of torture-tainted “confessions” and summary trials.

On 28 February, the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran. According to Iranian state-affiliated media citing the Martyrs and Veterans Affairs Foundation, 1,230 people had been killed as of 5 March. On 4 March, an official from Iran’s Ministry of Health said at least 180 children had been killed since the attacks began.

The US-Israel attacks continue, often targeting schools and hospitals.

Featured image via the Canary