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Evin Prison
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1
A view from the outside (Fars) - Evin prison is thought to hold hundreds of political prisoners as well as regular inmates.
2
Policing the women's section (epa) - In June 2006 authorities gave foreign journalists a rare chance to see parts of the prison.
3
An inmate at work (epa) - Reporters were able to talk to inmates in the women's section, but some of the journalists complained that officials listened in to their conversations.
4
The cells shown to journalists were clean and tidy (epa) - Officials said the visit was meant to dispel what they called an unfair impression of the prison abroad. But rights groups say they have documented cases of torture and abuse of detainees jailed in Evin for political reasons.
5
A deadly assignment (AFP) - Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian journalist, died in custody in Evin in 2003 after being detained for taking photographs outside the jail. Authorities initially said she had died in an accidental fall; a doctor who later fled to Canada said she had been beaten and raped.
6
Prison sketches (courtesy photo) - Iraj Mesdaghi, a political prisoner in Iran for 10 years in the 1980s and 1990s, published plans of Evin in his memoirs.
7
Esfandiari after her release (AFP) - One of Evin's most high-profile inmates was Haleh Esfandiari, the Iranian-American scholar held there for three months on security charges until her release in August 2007.
8
A hunger-striking Akbar Ganji - An earlier high-profile prisoner was journalist Akbar Ganji. He spent six years in Evin after writing articles linking senior officials to the murders of opposition figures. In 2005, Ganji went on a hunger strike that his wife said nearly killed him.
9
Free at last (Fars) - "Jail and pressures never forced me to change my views," Ganji said after his release in March, 2006. "Today, I'm more determined to say what I said six years ago."