It has been learned that Kurdish political prisoner Zeinab Jalalian, who is imprisoned in the town of Xoy in East Kurdistan’s Urmia state, has been refusing to take her medication for 53 days in order to protest the prison administration’s pressure, mistreatment and denial of her access to hospital.

Zeinab Jalalian’s lawyer Emîr Salar Dawidî submitted a petition to Chief Prosecutor and stated that his client has not been taking her medication since March 16 in order to protest the prison administration’s inhumane practices and denial of her access to hospital. In his petition, lawyer Dawidî stated that Jalalian will continue to refuse taking her medication until all inhumane practices come to an end.

Expressing concern over Jalalian’s state of health, Dawidî recalled that the eye condition of Jalalian is already deteriorating and that this problem will pose serious threats if she continues to not receive medication. He warned that Xoy prison administration and Urmia Court were responsible for Jalalian's state of health.”

Iranian Intelligence Agency (Itlaat) had detained and tortured 1982-born Zeinab Jalalian in Kermanshah city in March 2008. Accused of membership to Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê or PJAK), she was sentenced to death during a court session on 14 January 2009, which only lasted few minutes without the presence of her chosen lawyer. In December 2011 the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment.

Since her arrest nine years ago, Zeinab Jalalian has suffered severe human rights abuses at the hands of Iranian authorities, including torture, which have caused a lasting harm to her physical and mental health. Jalalian needs urgent medical treatment for her eye and tongue infections and has not received adequate care inside prison. As confirmed by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, there is no legal basis for her arrest and subsequent detention, and Jalalian was merely targeted for her political activism.

Zeinab has been afflicted with pterygium of the eye and its spread is causing problems with her sight. She has also been suffering from septic boils on her tongue.