Ali Jalalian, the father of Zeynab Jalalian, has told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) that she was being held in quarantine at Qarchak Varamin Prison. He also said that he had been informed by text message last week that his daughter’s case had been sent to Branch 101 of the Tehran Criminal Court, but he was unaware of the reason for the new case.

Describing the quarantine situation in Qarchak Prison as unsatisfactory and unsanitary, Mr Jalalian said that his daughter had been unaware of the reason for her transfer to the quarantine of this prison and the prison officials had not provided any reason for this transfer.

The father of the political prisoner expressed his deep concern over the transfer of Zeynab to Qarchak Prison and her continued detention in quarantine, calling for an end to the harsh conditions imposed on her daughter. Zeinab Jalalian was initially taken to the Orumiyeh Central Prison, then to Kermanshah, and subsequently to the Evin Prison in Tehran. Ultimately, she was transferred to the Qarchak Prison on Wednesday, Apr 29, 2020. The political prisoner is currently being held in the quarantine ward of Qarchak prison where she was transferred by the security forces after the other prisons refused to accept her.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network said: “There are about two thousand women prisoners in Qarchak prison where the law regarding separation of prisoners has not been implemented. This prison lacks the necessary standards for the detention of prisoners who are facing many problems in this overcrowded prison. In recent years, many female political prisoners have been exiled to this prison where the health and food standards are not observed.”

Zeynab Jalalian, born in 1982, is a Kurdish activist from a small village called Deim Qeshlaq located around Maku in Eastern Azerbaijan province in Iran. She was arrested in February 2007 by the forces of Kermanshah Intelligence Bureau on charges of membership in PJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan).

She was interrogated at Intelligence Detention Centre in Kermanshah for a month while being seriously tortured both mentally and physically. She was then transferred to Kermanshah Youth Rehabilitation Centre. In 2016, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an official request to the Islamic Republic of Iran to release Zeinab Jalalian immediately and take all necessary measures to compensate her without delay in accordance with the international regulations. In a vote issued by the International Working Group, Zeinab Jalalian’s deprivation of liberty was described as arbitrary and contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Iran is obliged to prosecute those officials responsible for violating the rights of the Kurdish political activist.