Human Rights Defenders: Zeynab Jalalian's Vision is at 'Serious Risk'

Continuing the deprivation of Zeynab Jalalian from medical services, human rights organizations have warned about the danger to the vision of this political prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment. The Human Rights Defenders Center reported on Tuesday, December 5, that Zeynab Jalalian suffers from pterygium and weakened vision, emphasizing that her eyesight is at 'serious risk' due to years of deprivation from treatment. This human rights organization noted that after sixteen years of imprisonment, interrogators from the Ministry of Intelligence have conditioned this political prisoner's access to medical services on her expressing remorse. According to the Telegram channel of the Human Rights Defenders Center, Zeynab Jalalian, who is currently imprisoned in Yazd Central Prison, has been interrogated in recent weeks while handcuffed and shackled, and agents from the Ministry of Intelligence have threatened her that if she does not express remorse, she will be deprived of all basic rights as a prisoner, including access to medical services. According to the Hengaw Human Rights Organization, 41-year-old Zeynab Jalalian, recognized as the longest-serving female political prisoner in Iran, has not enjoyed any leave throughout her sixteen years of imprisonment. Hengaw reports that this political prisoner, who has been subjected to 'psychological and physical torture,' has had no visits with her family since 2020. Zeynab Jalalian, from Maku, was arrested in March 2007 and after trial was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of 'waging war through membership in the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK).' Hengaw also noted that the family of this political prisoner has been 'constantly under pressure,' and in the winter of 2021, after a plea for help from Gozel Hajizadeh, Zeynab Jalalian's mother, was published, her mother and three brothers were arrested. The United States has repeatedly condemned the violent crackdown on protesters and the ongoing and repeated violations of the rights of Iranian citizens by the Islamic Republic government. International human rights bodies, including UN rapporteurs, have consistently warned about the deterioration of human rights violations in Iran. Judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic are refusing treatment for Zeynab Jalalian, the political prisoner. The sixteenth year of Zeynab Jalalian's imprisonment; exile to Yazd and deprivation of visits and leave. A statement from five released female political prisoners: these releases are the result of the 'protest movement' of Iranians. A US Congress representative: Iran should heed the UN's request for the release of Zeynab Jalalian.