Fears grow for Kurdish political prisoner transferred to 'unknown location' in Iran

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An online campaign is calling on the Iranian government to reveal the whereabouts of a Kurdish political prisoner who was transferred to “an unknown location” last week.

Zeynab Jalalian from Deim Qeshlaq, in Iran’s Eastern Azerbaijan province, was initially arrested in February 2007 by the Kermanshah Intelligence Bureau on charges of being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Life Free Party (PJAK), according to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

The 38-year-old was sentenced to death in December 2008 on charges of “armed actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran and membership in PJAK” in addition to “possessing arms and engaging in armed action against the Islamic Republic of Iran” by a revolutionary court judge. 

Jalalian has served 13 years of her life sentence in Khoy Prison, West Azerbaijan.  On April 28, she was transferred to an unknown location - said to be Tehran -  by Iranian security forces for questioning on new charges against her, according to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).

Jalalian has been in poor physical condition since 2014, suffering from various diseases including pterygium and oral thrush, according to KHRN.

Using the #WhereIsZeynabJalalian hashtag, civil society groups and political activists have taken to Twitter to  call on Amnesty International and Human Rights Organizations to pressure the Iranian government to reveal Jalalian's fate whereabouts.

"Kurdish political prisoner Zeinab Jalalian has been transferred from Khoy Central Prison to an unknown location. There are many concerns about the health of this political prisoner," Alan Kurd wrote. 

"No one knows where she is! Save Zeynab save humanity!" Aram Amed wrote. 

"Where is she? Why was she transferred to another location?" added Ferda Demirel.

Jalalian has been on hunger strike since February 2016 in protest to the lack of medical treatment for her eye condition and gastrointestinal disease, according to KHRN.

Describing Jalalian as "critically ill" in June 2018, Amnesty International called for a swift end to her "unjust treatment" by Iranian authorities, accusing Tehran of depriving her of her basic rights, including access to medical care.

Following several attempts by lawyers and human rights activists to repeal Jalalian’s death sentence, her sentence was reduced to life imprisonment in November 2011. Three years later, she was transferred to Khoy prison.

Tens of thousands of political prisoners are jailed in Iran over various charges including advocating for democracy and promoting women’s or workers’ rights.

Amid growing fears of the outbreak of the coronavirus, the UN has already urged Iran to include political prisoners in its temporary release of inmates.

Ethnic minority groups including Kurds and Azeris are disproportionally detained and more harshly sentenced for acts of political dissidence, according to a July 2019 report from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran.