"Zeinab Jalalian has been transferred to Yazd prison"

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported on Wednesday, November 11, citing an "informed source" that Zeinab Jalalian, a political prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment, was suddenly transferred to Yazd prison without providing any reason.

According to this "informed source," Jalalian informed his family in a two-minute phone call on November 10 that he had been beaten during his transfer to Yazd.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network wrote about the reason for the officers' action: "On November 10, security officers announced to Zeinab Jalalian in Kermanshah prison that they intended to transfer her to Urmia prison in accordance with a judicial order. However, when Zeinab realized that she was being transferred to another city along the way, she protested and was beaten, insulted, and threatened by security officers."

Apparently, Jalalian's father, who lives in Maku in West Azerbaijan, received a text message stating that his daughter's case had been sent to Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Yazd.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network report states that Zeinab Jalalian's physical condition is inadequate due to complications from the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and "lack of medical care."

Corona in Qarchak Prison

It was previously reported that Zeinab Jalalian had contracted the coronavirus in Qarchak Prison.

On Monday, Nasrin Sotoudeh's husband, Reza Khandan, also announced that the human rights activist had tested positive for COVID-19. Sotoudeh was also imprisoned in Qarchak Prison and was temporarily released a few days ago due to physical problems.

Nasrin Sotoudeh had previously warned about the precarious conditions of political prisoners due to the coronavirus outbreak and had gone on a hunger strike to draw the world's attention to the issue.

From city to city

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network noted in its report that on October 21, Zeinab Jalalian was transferred to Kermanshah Prison, but "due to her critical health condition, the Kermanshah Women's Prison authorities initially refused to hand her over, but eventually, with the intervention of the prosecutor of the Kermanshah General and Revolutionary Court, they accepted her."

Fatemeh Karimi, the director of this human rights organization, said about Jalalian's re-transfer: "This is the fourth time in the last six months that Zeinab Jalalian has been transferred to different prisons in the country, or rather, deported. Not only is there no deportation order in Ms. Jalalian's sentence, but there has been no judicial order or legal reason for all the transfers that have taken place in the last six months."

According to Karimi, the prisoner's transfer is "part of the security agencies' plan to physically and mentally torture this political prisoner and put pressure on him." According to the human rights activist, the security agencies intend to force Jalalian to cooperate "and give a television interview."

Karimi also said that Amirsalar Davoudi, one of Zeinab Jalalian's two lawyers, is in prison and her second lawyer, Mohammad Sharif, has withdrawn from the case.

Zeinab Jalalian was arrested in Kermanshah in March 2007 and sentenced to death on charges of “acting against national security” and “war on terror” through her membership in the “Free Life Party of Kurdistan” (PJAK). This sentence was commuted to life imprisonment with one degree of reduction after being confirmed by the Court of Appeal in 2011.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared in 2016 that Jalalian's arrest and continued detention were contrary to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The human rights body called on the Islamic Republic to immediately and unconditionally release Zeinab Jalalian.