FEARS have been raised over the safety of a Kurdish political prisoner held in unsanitary conditions in an Iranian prison that has been affected by the spread of Covid-19.

Zeynab Jalalian is being held in quarantine in the Qarchak Varamin prison, where she was transferred at the end of April.

Prison authorities did not disclose the reason for her quarantine but her father, Ali Jalalian, said he was deeply concerned and called for an end to the harsh conditions imposed on his daughter. 

It is believed she may have been infected with coronavirus and other prisons had refused to accept her transfer from the notorious Evrin prison.

Ms Jalalian was detained in 2007 on suspicion of membership of the banned Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

She was sentenced to death in what was described as a sham trial with no legal representative present and after she had been tortured. The sentence was later commuted to life in prison.

In 2016 the UN High Commission on Human Rights submitted a request to the Iranian regime demanding the immediate release of Ms Jalalian, insisting that her detention was arbitrary and in breach of international law, but she remains deprived of her liberty. 

Her father explained that he had received a text message to say that Ms Jalalian had another undisclosed case against her pending with a hearing set to take place in the Tehran Criminal Court.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network said: “There are about 2,000 women prisoners in Qarchak prison, where the law regarding separation of prisoners has not been implemented.

“It lacks the necessary standards for the detention of prisoners who are facing many problems in this overcrowded prison.

“In recent years, many female political prisoners have been exiled to this prison where the health and food standards are not observed.”