JINHA

NEWS CENTER –Women have started an international campaign for the freedom of Zeyneb Celaliyan a Kurdish political prisoner being denied medical treatment by the Iranian regime.

The group CENÎ (Kurdish Women’s Office for Peace) originally launched the campaign for Zeyneb's freedom on March 8, International Women's Day. KJAR (Free Women's Society of Eastern Kurdistan) is also working on the campaign.

Campaigners say that Zeyneb's health is in critical condition. The Iranian regime is denying her medical treatment, although she faces acute risk of blindness. Zeyneb also suffers from internal bleeding and intestinal and digestive problems.

Zeyneb, born in the Eastern Kurdistan city of Maku, is known for her work across borders organizing and educating women to promote their participating in politics on both sides of the Iraqi-Iranian border that separates Eastern and Southern Kurdistan. Iranian secret services officers arrested Zeyneb in 2008 in Kermanshah, a Kurdish city located in Iran. In a trial that lasted seven minutes, at which little evidence was presented, the court charging her with "being an enemy of God" based on her alleged membership in the Kurdish women's militant group PJAK (Free Life Party of Kurdistan).

The court condemned Zeyneb to death, a verdict confirmed by the Tehran Supreme Court in 2009. Now Zeyneb, one of Iran's many political prisoners, is in need of eye surgery and at risk of going blind. The Iranian regime has refused her treatment.

In December 2014,Zeyneb was transferred from Kermanshah rehabilitation and training center to Xoy Prison. For the past few years, Jalalian has been repeatedly transferred out of specialized rehabilitation clinics, despite her ophthalmologists' pleas to keep her in the clinic. Prosecutors and courts have prevented her from receiving continual treatment. Xoy Prison, where she is currently held, has limited health services and Zeyneb's eyesight continues to deteriorate, according to Kurdistan Human Rights Network.

KJAR and CENÎ have called on human rights organizations and parliaments across Europe to pressure the Iranian regime to release Zeyneb. They have worked on the campaign in cities in Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, France and the UK.

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