Kurdish Political Activist Writes Open Letter Protesting Grim Prison Conditions

Iran-HRM – Kurdish political activist Zeinab Jalalian, who has been serving a life sentence, wrote an open letter protesting the authorities denying her access to medical treatment.
In her letter she describes how the authorities denied her access to medical treatment, yet fabricated a medical case and published their fake documents in the state media. Zainab Jalalian called the allegation as “sheer lies”.

The letter reads in part: “I’m writing this letter to those who value the rights of others and work for it. I am in the Islamic Republic’s prisons for eleven years…. First of all, I got an eye disease and afterwards my kidneys and my lungs were infected. I also have high blood pressure (hypertension) and Oral candidiasis (oral thrush). Eventually my teeth were damaged and I had to endure a lot of pain. Even though, I have been applying for a dentist for three months, but the prison authorities have not taken any action.
As a political prisoner, I don’t have any rights therefore, I have always endured with my pains. I know this because, if I apply for treatment, I would not receive any answers like my teeth pain. This government is hypocrite and a liar. They never took me to the doctor but made a medical case for me and published their fake documents in their media mentioning my name, Zainab Jalalian, has went to the doctor. This is a mere lie. Wasn’t torturing and keeping me in an individual cell for all these years and prohibiting any visits and telephone calls enough?”
The Kurdish political activist, Zeinab Jalalian has been held in Khoi Prison in West Azerbaijan Province since 2008, serving a life sentence for her alleged membership in the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan.
She is a social and political activist who worked to empower women by providing educational and social services in Iraq and Iran, she had earlier visited a girls’ school in Kamiaran, Iran and given a speech about women’s rights and International Women’s Day.