Iranian lawyers Tuesday collectively wrote a letter to the United Nations Special Rapporteur to take immediate action on the explosive shooting that occurred at Tehran’s Evin prison in Iran. They requested the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) seek information and special commitments from the Iranian government about the number of deaths, and the reason for the fire in the Evin prison.

On October 15, massive fires, explosions and shootings erupted inside the Evin prison compound, where prominent lawyers, human rights activists, journalists, scientists, women’s rights leaders, and cultural workers–including nationals from Canada, France, Germany, and the United States–are held in captive. The reason behind the cause of the fire is not clear. Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) stated that clashes and violence occurred near Ward No. 7 where the external security forces, armed with pellet guns and live ammunition, joined prison guards to attack the prisoners. The security forces made prisoners stand outside, forced them to take off their clothes and lay on the floor on their stomachs and then beat them.

Still, it is not clear how many prisoners were injured or arrested and transferred to different parts of the prison. In the letter, 26 Iranian lawyers asked the Iranian government to urgently provide an accounting of the incident with the total number and identities of victims; ensure protection and access to urgent health care; cease solitary confinement, torture, and any other form of retaliation; and immediately take steps to reduce Evin’s population.

The letter reads, in part:

We call for the government to release lawyers and journalists as the immediate category for release. We emphasize that the Iranian government must also release all political prisoners, arrested and imprisoned under color of law, who have been subjected to spurious national security charges, unfairly prosecuted, and/or arbitrarily detained solely for peacefully exercising their human rights or seeking protection for others.

Further, the lawyers requested Special Rapporteurs and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) to “conduct an urgent investigation and take swift action to protect thousands of detained people, including lawyers, in Evin prison.”