Hedayatollah Farzadi, the infamous head of Tehran’s Evin Prison, reportedly fled the facility after receiving warnings about threats to his life and following communication between Israeli authorities and his son.
Reportedly, Israeli authorities contacted Amir Husseini Farzadi, suggesting that his father’s life would be spared in an impending attack if he convinced his father to release political prisoners.
According to WhatsApp messages obtained by Digital from an Israeli intelligence source, an agent instructed Amir to tell his father to open the prison doors, warning of an imminent attack. When Amir inquired about his father’s safety, the agent assured him that no harm would come to his father if he relayed the message.
The source informed Digital that Amir contacted his uncle, who then drove to the prison and extracted Farzadi. They were reportedly seen leaving the area just before the airstrikes commenced. Farzadi’s whereabouts remain unknown, according to the source.
Farzadi, who has served as the director of Evin Prison since 2022, faces accusations of severe human rights abuses, including the torture and murder of inmates, many of whom are political opponents. The allegations against him encompass beatings, starvation, sexual assault against female prisoners, and murder. He has been sanctioned by both .
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has placed Farzadi on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, which prohibits U.S. individuals and entities from conducting business with him.
“Numerous protesters have been incarcerated in Evin Prison during the recent protests, where they have been subjected to torture and other forms of physical abuse,” the Treasury Department stated .
Before his tenure at Evin Prison, Farzadi spent a decade at Dizel Abad Prison, where he was known for organizing public amputations of individuals convicted of minor offenses,” according to the Treasury Department. The department also noted that during his time as director of the , also known as Fashafouyeh Prison, Farzadi “oversaw the torture and maltreatment” of prisoners.
In its April 2025 announcement of sanctions against Ferzadi, as well as other entities and individuals, the EU condemned Iran’s “use of the judiciary as a tool for arbitrary detention.” also highlighted a “dramatic increase in the number of executions” in Iran during 2024, including women, minorities, and European citizens. However, the EU did not specify the number of political dissidents among those executed.
“Freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of religion or belief, as well as freedom of assembly have been increasingly restricted, and threatening measures have been taken against human rights defenders, journalists and political dissidents,” the EU stated.
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