The “Week in brief” by Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) is a weekly review of the most important human rights news and developments from and about Iran’s Kurdish areas.

Iranian Kurdish woman to serve six months in jail for anti-state propaganda

Iranian Kurdish activist Runak Aghayi has been taken to Mahabad prison to serve her six-month jail sentence, which was approved by the Oroumiyeh Court of Appeal.

The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mahabad had sentenced her to six months in jail on charges of anti-state propaganda after she had joined solidarity demonstrations in support of the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum held in neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan on 25 September 2017.

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Runak Aghayi Transferred to Mahabad Prison for Endorsement of her Sentence

Kurdish female political prisoner on strike to protest lack of medical care

Kurdish female political prisoner Zeynab Jalalian, who has been in prison for 11 years, has gone on strike to protest against the prison authorities refusing her medical leave despite her deteriorating health.

Her strike is also to denounce the fabricated weekly and monthly medical reports that the prison authorities have filed to misleadingly show international rights organisations that she had been given appropriate health care, her lawyer has said.

Zeynab Jalalian has gone on medicinal strike for an unlimited period of time in protest to the deceitful actions of Khoy prison authorities including recording completely inaccurate weekly and monthly health reports in her health check-book as well as providing a false report regarding her access to frequent regular medical examinations for the international and human rights institutions, her lawyer has stated in an open letter.

UN Special Rapporteur in March 2017 expressed concerns over the lack of medical treatment for Jalalian.

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Zeynab Jalalian’s Critical Health Condition Following Her Continues Medicinal Strike

Kurds protest Iran closing border crossings

Kurdish businessmen and shopkeepers went on strike by closing their businesses to protest against the closing of the unofficial border crossings between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan.

KHRN was informed that the protests had mainly affected the border towns of Javanrood, Saqeez and Marivan.

The Iranian government’s decision to close down al the unofficial border crossings with Iraqi Kurdistan has resulted in rising unemployment among thousands of Kurdish border Kollbar porter workers.

The border closure has also led to an increase in prices costing both businesses and consumers across the Iranian Kurdish border towns.

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Continued Protests to the Closure of Border Crossings and High Costs of Clearance at the Customs