Eight prisoners are reported to have died and over 60 were injured following the fire, officials say. While some of the journalists detained have confirmed they were safe to their families, no information has been received from four of them.
Clashes erupted late on 15 october between prisoners and prison personnel at Evin prison leading to a fire at the prison. Several explosions and shooting have been heard and tear gas has been fired at inmates.
According to IFJ statistics, at least 10 journalists are detained in Evin, including some of those arrested during the nationwide protest following Mehsa Amini’s murder.
While Elaha Mohammadi, Nilufar Hamedi, Aliya Matlabzadeh, Alireza Khoshbakht, Vida Rabani and Fatemeh Rajabi have called their family and informed them they were safe, four male journalists - Ruhollah Nakhai, Alireza Jabari Darestani, Ahmadreza Halabisaz and Farshid Gurbanpour - have given no news, raising concerns about their fate.
All face-to-face visits in Evin are now on hold and many Iranians have received no information on the situation of family members and friends.
Twenty-four journalists have been arrested since the beginning of the protests in Iran, according to IFJ statistics. Six have been released and 18 remain in jail. Four other journalists were detained before the start of the protest, bringing the total to 22.
IFJ General Secretary Antony Bellanger said: “ We are very concerned about the fate of our colleagues in Evin and remind the Iranian authorities that they are responsible for the lives of journalists in prison. Once again we demand the immediate release of all journalists who are unfairly detained in Evin and other prisons in Iran for doing their job.”