Drohende Erblindung

Zeynab Jalalian fing an, sich sozial und politisch zu engagieren, als sie 2000 aus dem Iran in die Region Kurdistan im Irak zog. Sie war in sozialen und politischen Netzwerken aktiv, die Verbindungen zum politischen Flügel der PJAK haben. Dabei konzentrierte sie sich unter anderem auf Aktivitäten zur Stärkung von Frauen, die der kurdischen Minderheit im Iran angehören. Hin und wieder reiste sie zu Veranstaltungen in den Iran. Zur Zeit ihrer Festnahme reiste sie gerade von der iranischen Stadt Kermanshah in der gleichnamigen Provinz in die Stadt Sanandadsch in der Provinz Kurdistan im Irak. Im Dezember 2008 musste Zeynab Jalalian vor der Abteilung 1 des Revolutionsgerichts der Provinz Kermanshah erscheinen. Man hatte sie wegen ihrer mutmaßlichen Verbindungen zum politischen Flügel der PJAK wegen "Feindschaft zu Gott" (moharebeh) angeklagt. Das Gericht sprach sie schuldig, "Waffen gegen den Staat erhoben" zu haben, und bezog sich dabei auf die Vermutung, dass sie an terroristischen Aktivitäten beteiligt gewesen sein könnte, sich jedoch weigerte, die Wahrheit zu sagen. Dies stellt einen schwerwiegenden Verstoß gegen die Unschuldsvermutung dar, die besagt, dass jede Person, der eine Straftat vorgeworfen wird, als unschuldig gilt und so behandelt wird, bis ein Gericht nach einem fairen Verfahren zu dem Ergebnis gekommen ist, dass ihre Schuld zweifelsfrei von der Staatsanwaltschaft bewiesen werden konnte. Der Rechtsbeistand von Zeynab Jalalian, den sie erst wenige Wochen vor ihrem Verfahren beauftragen durfte, erhielt nicht die Möglichkeit, sie bei dem Verfahren zu vertreten, da man ihn nicht über das Datum des Gerichtstermins informierte. Im Mai 2009 wurde ihr Todesurteil bestätigt. Im Dezember 2011 begnadigte der Oberste Religionsführer des Iran sie, und das Todesurteil wurde in eine lebenslange Haftstrafe umgewandelt.

[HINTERGRUNDINFORMATIONEN – FORTSETZUNG (AUF ENGLISCH])

Since her arrest, Zeynab Jalalian has consistently been under pressure from the authorities to make videotaped "confessions". In May 2016, she was featured in a state television programme called "The Shadow of Terrorism", which denounced PJAK as a "deadly terrorist group" bent on "brainwashing" and recruiting gullible youths and children and killing women and children. The programme referred to reports about Zeynab Jalalian’s denial of access to medical care as "a typical propaganda tactic by the terrorist PJAK to take advantage of a victim". Zeynab Jalian was shown in the programme saying, "The reports about me having lost my sight, my life being at risk or that I am sick are not true. I have had some medical problems but they have been minor." This account was reinforced with lengthier interviews with the head of Khoy Prison, a prison social worker, and a woman introduced as Zeynab Jalalian’s cell mate whose face was blurred. They claimed that Zeynab Jalalian has had full access to medical care and her eye pain has been resolved with the use of eye drops. The section of the "documentary" concerning Zeynab Jalalian ended with a short interview with her brother, who said that he had visited her and had been "happy to find that she was healthy." Her sister has since told Amnesty International that Zeynab Jalalian has retracted the "confessions" in this programme. Due to heavy surveillance, her sister said that Zeynab Jalalian had not yet been able to describe to her family the conditions under which she was coerced into giving the video-recorded statement. According to her sister, their brother has also said that the "documentary" distorted the context of his statement, which he had been asked to make while held in detention in early 2016. Following the broadcast, Zeynab Jalalian’s lawyer stated in an interview that both her eye condition and her mouth infection were worsening and the basic treatment provided in the prison clinic was insufficient, as she required specialist treatment in a hospital outside prison.

During its 75th Session in April 2016, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted an opinion on the case of Zeynab Jalalian, in which it stated that she had been detained as a direct result of the exercise of her rights and freedoms under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a state party, namely the right to freedom of expression and association, "for her activities as a social and political activist for the rights of Kurdish women" and "her involvement in political activism… with the non-militant wing of the PJAK". The statement also said that she had been denied the right to a fair trial under the ICCPR. The Working Group expressed grave concerns about her physical and mental wellbeing and stated that her treatment violated the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.