Zeynab Jalalian, a political prisoner, is serving her seventeenth year of a life sentence in Yazd Prison. Despite numerous physical ailments, she has been denied proper medical care and hospital transfer.
In violation of prison rules that dictate housing prisoners according to the nature of their offenses, she has been held in the same ward as those convicted of violent crimes.
Ms. Jalalian suffers from pterygium (an eye disease) as well as kidney and gastrointestinal diseases. Recently, due to pain in her right side, she was transferred to the prison infirmary. She was examined by the prison doctor, but no specialized treatment was provided. This political prisoner requires hospitalization and specialized care, yet the relevant authorities continue to prevent her transfer.
Zeynab Jalalian was arrested in 2008 and in 2009 was sentenced to death for “moharebeh” (enmity against God) due to her membership in opposition groups. Additionally, she received one year in prison for illegal exit from the country. Her death sentence was upheld by both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court but was later commuted to life imprisonment.
Ms. Jalalian has reported being subjected to various forms of torture during her detention, including flogging on the soles of her feet, punches to the stomach, head banging against the wall, and threats of sexual assault.
Her physical condition and deprivation of appropriate treatment have raised serious concerns about her health. This situation not only highlights the human rights violations against her but also reveals the alarming conditions of political prisoners in Iran.