Zeinab Jalalian has recently sent out a letter from Khoy Prison in West Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran. This Kurdish woman political prisoner with a life sentence who has already been in jail for 11 years under inhumane conditions and tortured viciously under interrogation, has written to foil the regime’s new scheme to pretend that Ms. Jalalian is receiving medical treatment in prison.
Despite her severe illnesses, Zeinab Jalalian has been denied all medical treatment to force her into making false televised confessions.
In her letter, Zeinab Jalalian has slammed the clerical regime for its hypocrisy and dishonesty and vowed to remain steadfast and resistant to achieve her goal despite great suffering in jail. She wrote, “A free-thinker struggles with her mind and thoughts not with her body. And fortunately, you killers are not able to enchain the thoughts of any freedom loving person. It is much too pleasant for me to suffer and die for freedom.”
The translated text of her letter appears below:
This regime is both hypocrite and dishonest.
They haven’t taken me to any physician but they have opened a counterfeit medical dossier under my name and published its documents in their media saying that Zeinab Jalalian has been visited by doctors. This is a sheer lie.
The regime knows nothing of humanity, and worse, they have used the images they took in 2008. In fact, they have taken advantage of them to deceive human rights organizations and the public opinion.
Hail to you who fight for people’s rights.
I am writing this letter to those who value and struggle to restitute other people’s rights.
It has been eleven years that I have been confined to the prisons of the Islamic Republic. Despite the various illnesses I suffer from, I have not requested the regime to provide me with any medical treatment.
First of all, it was my eyes and then my kidneys, then my lungs and my blood pressure. Subsequently, I contracted thrush in the mouth and ultimately, the tooth cavity that makes me suffer a lot.
Three months ago, I asked for a dental check but prison authorities have not taken any action.
As a political prisoner, I am entitled to no rights. I have always got along with my pains, like a mother who pacifies her child with a lullaby, because I well know that even if I ask for treatment it will not be answered, as they have not answered my recent request. This regime is both hypocrite and dishonest.
Wasn’t it enough to detain me in damp cells for years? Wasn’t it enough to deprive me of all telephone and personal contacts with anyone? They set dozens of conditions for the most trivial demands of mine.
As if a henchman beheads you and then asks you with a sweet smile to get up and walk. What a filthy deal these executioners are having with me!
Is it true that if somebody doesn’t think or act like these butchers, he or she must rot and die in prison?
This is a dark logic denying nature.
So, what is the meaning of all the different colors in nature?
If somebody is not bloodthirsty as you butchers are, must he or she die?
Henchmen! Do you hear my cries for freedom from behind the bars?
Let me give you a relief. I have not struggled with my body to regret it being enchained behind the bars.
A free-thinker struggles with her mind and thoughts not with her body. And fortunately, you killers are not able to enchain the thoughts of any freedom loving person. It is much too pleasant for me to suffer and die for freedom.
In fact, you are uprooting your own existence. Whatever you have done has been in vain. And you are doomed to fail.
No one and nothing is strong enough to prevent me from reaching my goals. I am the strongest on my own and I will continue to tread along my path.
Farewell,
Zeinab Jalalian
Khoy Prison
June 2018
All political prisoners must be unconditionally freed
Down with the Islamic Republic
