Zeynab Jalalian

Zeynab Jalalian (Zeynep Celaliyan, Persian: زينب جلاليان‎; born 1982 in Maku), is a Kurdish Iranian, often described as a political activist. She has been convicted a mohareb and sentenced to death by an Islamic Revolutionary Court for allegedly being a member of the Kurdish militant group PJAK, which she denies. Jalalian's sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.[1]
Human rights organizations have condemned Jalalian's verdict, torture, conditions of incarceration and the inattention to her medical care.[2]

Biography

When Jalalian was ten years old, she ran away from home because her parents would not allow her to go to school.[3][4]

Arrest

Jalalian was arrested in July 2007 in the Kurdish city of Kermanshah and transferred to the detention center of the Intelligence Ministry.[5] Her trial before the Court of First Instance took place in December 2008; after conducting a summary trial, the Court found Jalalian guilty and sentenced her to death, on charges of being a member of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), a banned Kurdish group: based on her alleged membership of that Kurdistan political party, she was accused of fighting God (mohareb) and given the death penalty.[6][7][8] (The Revolution court in Kermanshah conducted a brief trial, without due diligence and proper legal representation, lasting only a few minutes. Jalalian was ill, due to prison conditions and torture. She did not have any lawyer to defend her. The Court told her: “You are a God's enemy and you have to be hanged very soon”.)

Jalalian has denied the charges.[7] Her death sentence was confirmed by the Iranian Supreme Court in November 2009.[9]

On June 28, 2010, her family stated that in her last phone call, "which was a month ago, Zeynab has mentioned that she is held in Evin Prison”. Since that time, her family or her lawyers had not been able to receive any further information, the authorities responding that her file had been lost.[10]

In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, published on July 1, 2010, Iranian lawyer Khalil Bahramian talks about him being refused to visit Ms Jalalian in prison.[11]

In 2010, after being incarcerated into section 209 of the Evin prison for five months, and after a meeting with Tehran Public Prosecutor, Jalalian was transferred back to Kermanshah prison. The Supreme Court of Iran has reduced Jalalian's sentence to life imprisonment.[7] In December 2011, Ms. Jalalian contacted her lawyer to inform him that, according to prison authorities, her sentence had been reduced to life imprisonment.[6] According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, Jalalian’s lawyer, Dr. Mohamad Sharif declared in December 2011: “After a long period of follow-up with the Judicial authorities and not being able to receive answers, the Supreme Court overturned the death sentence and changed it to life in prison".[12] In Kermanshah prison, Zeynab Jalalian was verbally informed by judicial authorities that her death sentence had been commuted to imprisonment.[9]

Denied treatment

In April 2016, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights Working Group on Arbitrary Detention) issued an official request to the Islamic Republic of Iran to release Zeinab Jalalian immediately, as the deprivation of her liberty is arbitrary, being in contravention of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Working Group also considers that an adequate remedy would be to accord Jalalian an enforceable right to compensation in accordance the ICCPR.[13]
Indeed, Jalalian was being subjected to torture by the Iranian authorities and was denied access to treatments and specialized medical care despite her deteriorating health in Khoy prison, West Azerbaijan Province. She has several medical conditions, including a heart problem and a severe dental infection.[14]

Hunger Strike

Zeinab Jalalian, along with nine prisoners of ordinary offences, went on hunger strike in protest to being deprived of weekly visits and basic prison facilities in August 4, 2018. The strike ended the day after with no result.[15]

Covid-19

Early June 2020, Ali Jalalian, the father of Zeynab Jalalian, tells the Kurdistan Human Rights Network that since April 29, 2020 she is being held in quarantine at Gharchak Women's Prison in Varamin and diagnosed with covid-19.[16] In Gharchak -or Qarchak- prison, health and food standards are not observed. The Ministry of Intelligence has not allowed her to be taken to a hospital outside the prison.[17]

See also

References
  1. "Document". www.amnesty.org. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  2. United for Iran: Zeynab Jalalian
  3. "Zeinab Jalalian". Center for Human Rights in Iran. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  4. "Urgent Action Update: Iranian Kurdish Woman Denied Medical Care (Iran: UA 151.14)". Amnesty International USA. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  5. "Zeynab Jalaliyan: Kurdish female activist sentenced to death". web.archive.org. 2009-03-16. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  6. Opinion No. 1/2016 concerning Zeinab Jalalian (Islamic Republic of Iran)
  7. Iranian Judicial Officials Suggest Kurdish Prisoner Will Get Temporary Leave if She Agrees to Televised "Confession", International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (February 9, 2016).
  8. "Report On Torture And Illegal Imprisonment Of Kurdish Political Prisoner Zeinab Jalalian". The Rojava Report. 2015-08-31. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  9. "rahana.org - Informationen zum Thema rahana". www.rahana.org. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  10. "Zeynab Jalalian's Brother: "We haven't heard from her for a month."". RAHANA. June 26, 2010.
  11. "I Ask Ayatollah Khamenei To Intervene In Zeinab Jalalian's Case, Says Lawyer". International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. July 1, 2010.
  12. "The Supreme Court Has Overturned The Death Sentence of Kurdish Prisoner Zainab Jalalian". persianbanoo. Dec 16, 2011.
  13. Human Rights Council: Opinion No. 1/2016 concerning Zeinab Jalalian (Islamic Republic of Iran)
  14. "Document". www.amnesty.org. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  15. main (2016-03-09). "Zeinab Jalalian in Critical Health Condition in Khoy Prison". Hrana - News Agency. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  16. 'Concerns Over the Fate of Zeynab Jalalian in the Quarantine of Qarchak Prison' 03.06.2020
  17. "Kurdish Political Prisoner Contracts Coronavirus in Iran's Qarchak Prison". Iran HRM. 2020-06-07. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
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