PARIS, France — Amnesty International on Tuesday called for a war crimes investigation into Israel’s deadly air attack on Tehran’s Evin Prison during last month’s 12-day war.

The strike, confirmed by Israel, killed 79 people, according to a provisional tally by Iranian authorities.

It also destroyed part of the administrative building in Evin, a large, heavily fortified complex in the north of Tehran, which rights groups say holds political prisoners and foreign nationals.

Amnesty International called the Israeli attack “deliberate” and “a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

The airstrikes should therefore be “criminally investigated as war crimes,” it said.

“The Israeli military carried out multiple air strikes on Evin Prison, killing and injuring scores of civilians and causing extensive damage and destruction in at least six locations across the prison complex,” Amnesty said, basing its assessment on what it said were verified video footage, satellite images, and witness statements.

There was nothing to suggest that Evin Prison could justifiably be seen as a “legal military objective,” it said.

The strike on Evin was part of a sweeping assault Israel launched on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program on June 13 with the stated aim of stopping the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.

Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel said it had recently taken steps toward weaponization.

The strikes on Evin came amid a wave of strikes on Tehran on on the penultimate day of the war that hit key assets and symbols of the Iranian regime in Tehran, including facilities belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the prison and the “Destruction of Israel” countdown clock.

The victims of the June 23 attack included administrative staff, guards, prisoners, and visiting relatives, as well as people living nearby.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 prisoners were being held at the time in the prison.

Among them were Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French nationals arrested three years ago accused of espionage.

They were not injured in the attack, their families said, and have since been transferred to a different location.

France, and other western governments, consider them and others to be “hostages” taken by the Iranian authorities for leverage in negotiations.

Times of Israel staff contributed this report.