The health condition of political prisoner Zeinab Jalalian has been reported as poor. She is denied access to medical services and family visits.
Zeinab Jalalian is serving her sentence in Yazd prison, without observance of the principle of separation of crimes. Despite suffering from gastrointestinal, kidney, and eye conditions, she has been deprived of specialized medical treatment. Furthermore, on the orders of the Ministry of Intelligence, she has been barred from family visits since September 22, 2024.
Zeinab Jalalian, a Kurdish woman, has spent 16 years in prison in Iran and is now entering her 17th year of imprisonment. She is the longest-held and only female political prisoner with a life sentence in Iran. During her imprisonment, she was tortured and deprived of her right to leave, even for medical treatment.
Zeinab Jalalian was arrested in Kermanshah on February 26, 2008, and is currently being held in Yazd prison. However, this Kurdish woman has been illegally and violently moved between different prisons.
About six months before her transfer to Yazd prison, she was suddenly and without any reason given by the security agents transferred from Khoy prison to Qarchak prison. She was then transferred to Kerman prison after a hunger strike with Covid-19 and requested to return to Khoy prison in West Azerbaijan Province, NW Iran. She was then transferred to Kermanshah prison, despite the officials of Kermanshah Women’s Prison refusing to take her in initially due to her serious health condition.
Zeinab Jalalian was infected with Covid-19 for a second time in Yazd Prison and has developed lung and asthma problems during her recovery due to a lack of medical care. Her physical condition and health have deteriorated due to her previous diseases, including kidney and digestive problems, oral thrush, eye pterygium, poor eyesight, tooth infection, etc. Despite her deteriorating physical condition, she was kept for a long time in a public room with people with addictions and very bad health conditions and without necessary medical care.
According to Zeinab Jalalian’s lawyers, based on the new Islamic Penal Law approved in 2013, her continued imprisonment is against the law and should be released.
