Judicial Officials of the Islamic Republic Refuse Medical Treatment for Political Prisoner Zeinab Jalalian

Human rights sources have reported the indifference of the judicial officials of the Islamic Republic regarding the medical treatment of Zeinab Jalalian, a political prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment, despite her severe visual impairment and multiple illnesses. On Wednesday, October 4, the news agency Hrana, affiliated with human rights activists in Iran, reported that Zeinab Jalalian, a Kurdish political prisoner, has been deprived of appropriate medical care in the sixteenth year of her imprisonment, despite suffering from severe vision loss due to the progression of a pterygium and kidney and gastrointestinal diseases. Ms. Jalalian, referred to as 'the longest-serving female political prisoner in Iran,' has not been granted leave during her 16 years of imprisonment. In this regard, the judicial and security officials of the Islamic Republic have conditioned the possibility of family visits on 'confessing to the validity of their claims about her case' and also her 'expressing remorse.' In 2020, without providing a specific reason, judicial authorities changed her detention location from Khoy prison, and over the eight months following her transfer to the prisons of Qarchak Varamin, Kerman, and Dizelabad in Kermanshah, Zeinab Jalalian was eventually moved to Yazd prison. According to Hrana, Zeinab Jalalian is currently held in Yazd prison without adherence to the principle of separation of crimes. Zeinab Jalalian, from Maku, was arrested in March 2008 and sentenced to death by the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Kermanshah on charges of 'waging war through membership in the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK),' but this sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the judiciary has condemned opponents and political, civil, and labor activists to death, imprisonment, and even in some cases to flogging and exile by bringing security charges against them. The human rights organization Hengaw noted in July of this year that Zeinab Jalalian has 'suffered psychological and physical torture' since her arrest. According to this report, she has been deprived of leave since 2008. Hengaw also reported that the family of this political prisoner has been 'constantly under pressure, and in the winter of 2021, after the release of a video message from Gozel Haji Zadeh, Zeinab Jalalian's mother, they were arrested. The United States has repeatedly condemned the violent actions and widespread repression of protesters, as well as the continuous and repeated violations of the rights of citizens in Iran by the Islamic Republic government. International human rights bodies, including United Nations rapporteurs, have also consistently warned about the deteriorating human rights violations in Iran.