Zeynab Jalalian, a Kurdish political prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment, was once again deprived of weekly visits with her family by the Ministry of Intelligence. Meanwhile, Khoy Prison authorities still deny her access to the necessary medical care.

“On Monday, December 24, Khoy Prison officials informed her that she would be deprived of weekly visits with her family until further notice as instructed by the Ministry of Intelligence.”, a reliable source told Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).

“Zeynab Jalalian was transferred to the prison clinic due to severe kidney pain last week and prison doctors advised that she should be taken to a hospital out of prison for an examination by a specialist due to lack of ultrasound facilities, but the prison authorities have not consented to her transfer yet.”, the source further said.

The pressure on this political prisoner has entered a new phase during the past two months. In addition to detaining her lawyer, Amir Salar Davoudi, prison authorities have seized the personal belongings of this political prisoner including blankets, clothes, books and handwritten notes without providing any specific reason.

Zeynab Jalalian has been on a medicinal strike and not taking her prescribed medications, in protest to the publication of several forged documents and false reports about her access to the necessary medical care in a documentary on the Press TV, since February 2017 till now.

Zeynab Jalalian, born in 1982. is a Kurdish activist from a small village called Deim Qeshlaq which is located around Maku in Eastern Azerbaijan province in Iran. She was arrested in February 2007 by the forces of Kermanshah Intelligence Bureau on charges of membership in PJAK.
She was interrogated at Intelligence Detention Centre in Kermanshah for a month while being seriously tortured both mentally and physically. She was then transferred to Kermanshah Youth Rehabilitation Centre but she was repeatedly taken back to the Security Detention Centre for further interrogations.

On 3 December 2008, Jalalian was sentenced to death on accounts of “armed actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran and membership in PJAK in addition to possessing and carrying illegal weapons while engaging in armed action against the Islamic Republic of Iran” by Judge Moradi at the branch 1 of Revolutionary Court of Kermanshah. This sentence was later affirmed on April 2, 2009 by Judge Ali Mohammad Roshani at the branch 4 of Kermanshah Court of Appeal despite the contest statements prepared by her lawyer.

The Supreme Court confirmed her death sentence on 26 November 2009. She was transferred to an unknown location from Kermanshah Prison before being taken to Evin Prison in Tehran in early March 2010. She was held in ward 209 of Evin Prison for five months before being transferred to Dizelabad Prison in Kermanshah again since she refused to accept the authorities’ condition for emancipating her from death sentence. She was offered to be emancipated from death sentence if she would do a TV interview. She was at imminent risk of execution after the sentence was confirmed. However, her death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment in November 2011 by Iran’s Supreme Leader ‘Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’.

In November 2014, Zeynab Jalalian was transferred to Khoy prison. This prisoner has been on a medicinal strike and she has not been taking her prescribed medications since February 2017.