Iran's judiciary raised the death toll Monday in a blaze at Tehran's notorious Evin prison, saying at least eight prisoners were killed as protests continue nationwide.
The judiciary's Mizan news agency offered the new toll, saying the prisoners had succumbed to their injuries from the incident Saturday night.
It said all those dead had been held on theft charges.
Flames and thick smoke rising from Tehran’s Evin Prison had been widely visible Saturday night, as nationwide anti-government protests triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody entered a fifth week. In online videos, gunshots and explosions could be heard in the area of the prison, The Associated Press said.
The blaze was extinguished after several hours and no detainees escaped, state media said.
The protests have turned into one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution, and have been met with a brutal crackdown.
Before the authorities published the death toll from the fire, families of some political detainees took to social media to call on the authorities to ensure the safety of prisoners at Evin, which in 2018 was blacklisted by the US government for "serious human rights abuses".
Iranian authorities said on Saturday that a prison workshop had been set on fire "after a fight among a number of prisoners convicted of financial crimes and theft". Evin holds many detainees facing security charges, including Iranians with dual nationality, Reuters reported.
The footage of Evin aired on state television hours later showed firefighters inspecting a workshop with fire damage to the roof. It also showed inmates in their wards apparently "sleeping as calm has been restored".
Atena Daemi, a human rights activist, said that relatives of prisoners held in the women's section had gathered at the prison for routine visiting hours, but that the authorities had denied them access, resulting in a standoff.
The relatives were told that the prisoners were "fine, but the phones are broken", according to Daemi.
"When the families said they would not leave until they (prisoners) call, give them mobile phones to call, security guards confronted the families," she tweeted.
In the footage broadcast on state television, a prison official said inmates had been allowed to contact their families.
A lawyer representing an American Iranian held at Evin, Siamak Namazi, imprisoned for nearly seven years on espionage-related charges rejected by Washington as baseless, said on Sunday that Namazi had indeed contacted his relatives.
Several other dual national Iranians and foreign citizens are held in Evin prison mostly for security-related charges.
"I am pleased to report that #SiamakNamazi has now spoken to his family. He is safe and has been moved to a secure area of Evin Prison. We have no further details at this time," Jared Genser said in a tweet.
Namazi had returned to Evin on Wednesday after being granted a brief furlough, Genser said.
