Wildfire Sets Off Landmines Around Iran's Evin Prison

Evin Prison (File photo: Reuters)
Evin Prison (File photo: Reuters)
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Wildfire Sets Off Landmines Around Iran's Evin Prison

Evin Prison (File photo: Reuters)
Evin Prison (File photo: Reuters)

Iran's judiciary said that a wildfire caused by very hot weather flared for a short time on Friday in the grasslands surrounding Evin prison, detonating landmines in a security area around the facility, according to Reuters.

The judiciary's Mizan news agency reported that the fire, which lasted only "a few minutes," was immediately controlled, and no damage was caused to the prison facilities.

The agency added, "The fire spread to the protected hills around Evin Prison and caused several mines to explode."

The agency did not mention any human casualties or details about the type of landmines.



Syrian Pro-Assad Fighter Jailed For Life in Germany for Crimes Against Humanity

Cells in the basement of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate Branch 251, also known as Al-Khatib branch, in the capital Damascus. (AFP)
Cells in the basement of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate Branch 251, also known as Al-Khatib branch, in the capital Damascus. (AFP)
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20

Syrian Pro-Assad Fighter Jailed For Life in Germany for Crimes Against Humanity

Cells in the basement of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate Branch 251, also known as Al-Khatib branch, in the capital Damascus. (AFP)
Cells in the basement of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate Branch 251, also known as Al-Khatib branch, in the capital Damascus. (AFP)

A German court on Tuesday convicted a Syrian man of crimes against humanity and jailed him for life over offences committed during his time fighting for former President Bashar al-Assad.

The court in the city of Stuttgart found the former militiaman guilty of crimes including murder and torture after a trial which involved testimony from 30 witnesses.

Shortly after the outbreak of anti-Assad protests in early 2011, the man joined a pro-government militia in the southern town of Bosra al-Sham, according to AFP.

He proceeded to take part in several crimes against the local population with the aim of "terrorizing" them and driving them from the town, the court found.

German authorities have pursued several suspects for crimes committed in Syria's civil war under the principle of universal jurisdiction, even after Assad's ouster last December.

In 2022, former Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan was found guilty of overseeing the murders of 27 people and the torture of 4,000 others at the notorious Al-Khatib jail in 2011 and 2012.

That was the first international trial over state-sponsored torture in Syrian prisons and was hailed as "historic" by human rights activists.