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EXCLUSIVE – The notorious director of Tehran’s brutal Evin Prison, Hedayatollah Farzadi, escaped the compound ahead of Israeli strikes following threats to his life – and an alleged exchange between Jerusalem and his adult son.
Israeli authorities reportedly contacted Amir Husseini Farzadi, telling him that if he convinced his father to release political prisoners, his life would be spared in the impending attack.
According to a series of WhatsApp messages shared with Fox News Digital by an Israeli intel source, an agent instructed Amir to tell his father to open the prison’s doors, warning that an attack would occur within “a few minutes.” Amir asked whether something had already happened to his father, and the Israeli agent replied that it wouldn’t – if he passed the message along.
In this picture obtained from the Iranian judiciary’s news agency Mizan Online on June 25, 2025, rescuers sift through the rubble inside the Evin prison complex in Tehran that was hit days ago by an Israeli strike. (Mostafa Roudaki/mizanonline/AFP via Getty Images)
“Numerous protesters have been sent to Evin Prison during the latest round of protests where they have been subjected to torture and other forms of physical abuse,” the Treasury Department wrote in a statement.
Prior to his time at Evin Prison, Farzadi spent 10 years working at Dizel Abad Prison, where he “was known to organize public amputations of criminals convicted of petty crimes,” the Treasury Department wrote. The department also noted that during his time as director of the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, also known as Fashafouyeh Prison, Farzadi “oversaw the torture and maltreatment” of inmates.
In its April 2025 announcement of sanctions against Ferzadi, as well as other entities and individuals, the EU condemned “the use of the judiciary as a tool for arbitrary detention” in Iran. The EU also noted that Iran saw a “dramatic increase in the number of executions” in 2024, which included women, minorities and European citizens. However, the EU did not specify how many of those executed were political dissidents.
“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 wrote.
