Israel struck a notorious Iranian prison. Its inmates are paying a price.

Israeli attack on the prison turned out to be among the deadliest of the 12-day war, with at least 80 people killed

- Margherita Stancati

Authorities at Tehran's Evin Prison were still attending to the dead and wounded on the evening of June 23 when one of the highest-profile inmates held there, Swedish-Iranian scientist Ahmadreza Djalali, called his wife to tell her he was safe.

Hours earlier, Israeli airstrikes hit the sprawling compound that holds thousands of detainees, many of them political prisoners.

"I am so worried about his situation," said in a phone interview from Sweden.

Israel struck the prison as part of a wave of strikes that Defense Minister Israel Katz said targeted elements of Iranian state oppression, also including what he said were headquarters for the paramilitary Basij force.

The attack turned out to be among the deadliest of the 12-day war. At least 80 were killed, including family members visiting prisoners and locals living nearby, according to Iranian state media, which said more than 900 were killed during the war overall.

Human Rights Activists in Iran, a nongovernmental organization that gathers data from official sources and other contacts, also reported hundreds dead from the Israeli campaign and said it had identified 47 of the people killed at Evin.

The prisoners, male and female, were transferred to facilities that are more crowded and even less sanitary than Evin, according to several accounts shared by prisoners, their relatives and rights groups.

The Israeli military and the prime minister's office declined to comment on the Evin attack and death toll. Iran's mission to the United Nations didn't respond to a request for comment.