Zeynab Jalalian, a political prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment who is held at Khoy prison, was transferred to an unknown location by security forces on April 28. She suffers from conjunctive intestinal infections and internal bleeding.. She suffers from conjunctive intestinal infections and internal bleeding.
“This morning, a team of security forces took Zeynab Jalalian to Khoy prison without giving any specific reason.”, an informed source told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
Prison officials have told the family of the political prisoner that a new case has probably been opened against Jalalian and she appears to have been transferred to a Tehran prison for questioning on new charges.
In March, Amnesty International issued a statement calling for an end to the unjust imprisonment of Kurdish political prisoner while stating that Zeynab Jalalian had been repeatedly deprived of her basic rights during her long years in prison, including access to adequate medical care.
Zeynab Jalalian has been on a hunger strike since February 2016 in protest to the lack of medical treatment for her eye condition and gastrointestinal disease, but she has agreed to take medication for her migraines upon her family insistence.
Earlier in July, the source told KHRN that a delegation of inspectors including the Prosecutor of Khoy visited the ward of female prisoners at Khoy Prison. During the inspection, a member of the delegation announced to Jalalian that her rights as a prisoner would not be restored unless she expressed her regret about her actions but Zeinab Jalalian has vehemently refused to do so.
Moreover, the Ministry of Intelligence had previously conditioned the transfer of Jalalian to the hospital to her acceptance of attending a television interview. But Zeynab Jalalian has refused to accept this condition. Therefore, despite the advice of the prison doctors regarding the need to send her to the hospital for the treatment, she is still deprived of the right to medical treatment.
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.
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 arms and 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. The Supreme Court confirmed her death sentence on 26 November 2009. She was then transferred unexpectedly from Kermanshah Prison to Esfahan 209 in February 2010. She was finally transferred back to Dizelabad prison in Kermanshah again after five months.
Following many attempts to repeal Jalalian’s death sentence by her family, lawyer, and Human Rights activists, the Supreme Leader of Iran showed leniency and her death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment in November 2011. Later, in November 2014, Zeinab Jalalian was transferred to Khoy prison so her family did not need to travel to a long way to visit her every time.
It should be noted that Amir Salar Davoodi, Jalalian’s lawyer who played an active role in her case, has also been detained by the Ministry of Intelligence since Nov 20, 2018. He was sentenced to 111 lashes and 30 years of imprisonment by the Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court in early June. 15 years of his imprisonment sentence is enforceable. Zeinab Jalalian has strongly condemned the arrest of her lawyer and the heavy sentence against him in her letters and messages sent from the prison.
