Release Zeynab Jalalian and all political prisoners! End the death penalty in Iran!

The International League of Peoples’ Struggles ( ILPS ) is very concerned about the plight of political prisoners especially women political prisoners  in Iran in this time of the pandemic.

In March, two hundred women political prisoners went on hunger strike in the women’s prison in Urmiye, because of the high health risk from the pandemic. In April, 36 prisoners were murdered by the security forces during prison protests calling for more hygiene measures.

ILPS demands that the Iranian authorities take urgent steps to protect the health of all prisoners in the face of the pandemic.

ILPS also expresses grave concern about the Kurdish woman Zeinab Jalalian, a political activist  who has been in Iranian jail since 2008. In 2009,  she was sentenced to death for “hostility to God” which led to widespread protests and the eventual commutation of her sentence to life imprisonment.

Zeinab Jalalian is seriously ill and is clearly at risk in the current pandemic. The Iranian authorities continue to refuse her access to specialist medical treatment outside the prison. Amnesty International describes her treatment by the Iranian authorities as “equivalent to torture”.

After years of torture in Iranian prisons, the ILPS demands that she be released and given proper medical treatment urgently.

Further we demand the immediate release of all political prisoners and the abolition of the death penalty in Iran.

We call on all ILPS organisations, networks and allies across the world to protest to the Iranian authorities about this current situation.

Signed:

Len Cooper

Chairperson, ILPS