Urgent Alert: Zeynab Jalalian in Danger of Execution

June 28, 2010

Change for Equality reports that Zeynab Jalalian, whose death sentence for “Enmity against God” was confirmed by Iran’s Supreme Court in November 2009, is now at risk of imminent execution. The exact date and time of the execution has not been released, but her sentence has been submitted for implementation and may take place in a matter of hours or days. This news comes from her attorney, whose efforts to represent Jalalian were rejected by the courts.

Jalalian, a member of the Kurdish minority, is from Maku, a town in the northwest of Iran. She was sentenced to death in January 2009 by the Kermanshah Revolutionary Court. Before that, she had spent eight months in a Ministry of Intelligence detention facility, during which her family had no information concerning her fate. She is reported not to have been granted access to a lawyer during her trial, which she said lasted only a few minutes. Zeynab Jalalian’s death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court on November 26, 2009. In early March 2010, Jalalian was moved from Kermanshah Prison to an unknown location, possibly a detention facility of the Ministry of Intelligence. After several weeks, in late March 2010, she was transferred to Section 209 of Evin Prison in Tehran. Her case has been submitted to officials who are now awaiting final authorization to carry out her execution.

WLP joins Change for Equality in calling for the Iranian government to halt the execution of Zeynab Jalalian. Please write to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urging immediate action:

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Ms. Navanethem Pillay
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

General inquiries:
Email: infodesk@ohchr.org
Tel: +41-22-917-92-20
Fax: +41-22-917-9008 or +1-212-963-4097

Civil Society Unit:
Email: civilsocietyunit@ohchr.org
Tel: +41-22-917-9656

Source: Change for Equality