The security unit for all prisons in Tehran Province sent letters to detention centers in February 2020 warning about the possibility of a foreign attack, documents sent to Iran International by a hacking group shows.

‘Ali’s Justice’ group has been releasing images of abuse taken from the surveillance systems of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison and confidential documents in the past 10 days.

On Tuesday, Iran International received a series of new documents showing that Iran’s prison system’s security unit was not only concerned about a foreign attack but also great weakness in protecting information.

In one letter sent on February 25, 2020, Yadollah Honarmand, commander of security for prisons in Tehran province listed a series of weaknesses and strengths for prison personnel in confronting a foreign military attack. He pointed out that weapons and ammunition were “unsuitable to confront the enemy” and highlighted weaknesses in protecting documents, information and security plans.

Ironically, the hackers were able to penetrate the prison system and record many images from the internal surveillance cameras and peek into the computer systems. Honarmand particularly pointed out “weakness in devising confidential information and document exchange systems,” in his letter.

What is not clear is why prison personnel would be involved in a war in case of a foreign attack. Would this mean they would go to battlefield or simply defend the prisons? In either case Honarmand’s comments sound unusual. If a foreign army were to reach a prison how a few dozen guards could defend it.

In terms of strengths, the security chief of prisons points to superiority in intelligence, having optical and electronic means of warfare among armed forces and “revolutionary morale”.

Despite Honarmand’s confidence in the strengths he mentioned, highly sensitive Iranian installations have been targeted by effective sabotage attacks in the past 13 months, including the assassination of a top nuclear scientist and two explosions in its Natanz uranium enrichment site.

In the end of the letter Honarmand made several recommendations in case of a foreign attack. He reminded prison officials to pay attention to the importance of documents and equipment, presumably in terms of destroying the most important ones. He also pointed to evacuation plans and protecting weapons and ammunition.

‘Ali’s Justice’ hackers earlier sent Iran International a copy of another letter dated January 22, 2020 from Gholamreza Mohammadi, Evin prison’s security chief to another prison official ordering heightened security measures including the protection of classified information.

Mohammadi noted that additional security measures had to be taken due to the possibility of "terrorist operations and suicide attacks" on the prison following street protests in November 2019 and the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane near Tehran.

It appears that the hackers’ group will continue to reveal more documents and perhaps images. Although Iran’s Judiciary and other officials have acknowledged the authenticity of “some” images and have launched investigations regarding the abuse, others have claimed that the videos were “manufactured by Zionists”.