Critical Health Condition and Forced Return to Prison
Zeinab Jalalian, a Kurdish political prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment, is now in her eighteenth year of incarceration and remains deprived of her most basic human right — access to medical care. According to informed sources, she was forcibly returned to Yazd Prison only 24 hours after undergoing fibroid surgery, against medical advice — a clear sign of the regime’s systematic cruelty and deliberate neglect of political prisoners’ health.
Treatment Conditioned on “Letter of Repentance”: A Tool of Psychological Torture
In June 2024, a team of Ministry of Intelligence agents met with her twice, conditioning her transfer to a hospital and access to treatment on writing a “letter of repentance.” Jalalian firmly rejected the demand, stating that medical care is her legal and human right. She emphasized that accepting such a condition would mean surrendering to her torturers. This conduct by the security agents constitutes a clear act of psychological torture and political coercion through manipulation of a prisoner’s health.
Years of Imprisonment, Exile, and Systematic Neglect
The conduct of prison and intelligence authorities toward Jalalian is not an exception but part of the ruling regime’s broader policy of denying the rights of political prisoners. Over the past eighteen years, she has been transferred between multiple prisons — Sanandaj, Kermanshah, Qarchak, Khoy, Kerman, and now Yazd — without a single day of medical leave or adequate treatment. In July 2024, despite suffering from severe pain in her right side, she was taken to the prison infirmary and returned to her ward without seeing a specialist, receiving only superficial care.
Violations of International Obligations and the Mandela Rules
Conditioning treatment on repentance, returning a patient to prison after surgery, and denying access to specialized medical care amount to torture and inhuman treatment in violation of Iran’s international obligations.
Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights guarantees the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
Furthermore, the Nelson Mandela Rules stipulate that prisoners must have access to health services equivalent to those available to the general public.
International Human Rights Warnings
Deliberate neglect of Jalalian’s medical condition not only violates these commitments but also poses a serious threat to her life.
Nine UN Special Rapporteurs jointly expressed grave concern over her deteriorating health and urged the Iranian authorities to “grant immediate life-saving medical treatment.”
Additionally, forty-two international NGOs called on the international community to take urgent action against the regime’s systematic violations of political prisoners’ rights, including denial of medical care.
Defiance in the Face of Torture and Denial
Jalalian’s case is not only a personal tragedy but also a reflection of the structural repression against women political prisoners in Iran. Denying treatment to inmates whose lives are in danger is a silent and prolonged form of torture that takes place behind prison walls.
In one of her writings from Yazd Prison, Zeinab Jalalian declared:
“I stand on the right side of history.”
Her words embody the strength of those who continue to resist, bearing witness to a system that sacrifices health, freedom, and human dignity in the name of control and silence.
Call to Action
The international community and human rights bodies must act urgently to ensure Zeinab Jalalian’s right to medical care and her unconditional release; every day of delay brings her closer to the risk of death.
