German MP says Zeynab Jalalian’s case reflects repression of minorities in Iran
Hengaw – Friday, March 13, 2026
Cansu Özdemir, a Kurdish-German member of the German Bundestag from the Left Party, said in a new post marking Kurdish political prisoner Zeynab Jalalian’s entry into her twentieth year of imprisonment in Yazd Prison, amid the ongoing Iran-Israel-U.S. war, that she serves as Jalalian’s parliamentary sponsor in the German Bundestag.
Özdemir, who has held this role since 2023, wrote: “I have taken on the parliamentary sponsorship of Kurdish political prisoner Zeynab Jalalian from Rojhelat in the German Bundestag. She has been imprisoned in Iran since 2008. Her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2011.”
She added that human rights organizations have for years reported mistreatment and the denial of adequate medical care in Jalalian’s case. “Her case is a clear example of the repression of political opponents and minorities in Iran, particularly Kurdish activists,” she said.
Özdemir said her support comes within the framework of the "Parliamentarians Protect Parliamentarians" initiative. “Members of the German Bundestag work to support human rights defenders at risk and political prisoners around the world. As her parliamentary sponsor, I will work to ensure that Zeynab Jalalian’s case receives international attention and remains visible. Political prisoners must not be forgotten,” she wrote.
Cansu Özdemir accepted the political sponsorship of Zeynab Jalalian in the summer of 2023 in cooperation with the human rights organization Hawar Help.
Zeynab Jalalian was arrested on February 26, 2008, on the road between Kamyaran and Kermanshah. In December 2008, Branch One of the Kermanshah Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Moradi, sentenced her to one year in prison for illegally leaving the country and to death on charges of “waging war against God” (moharebeh) through membership in the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK).
Her death sentence was upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court in 2009. In November 2011, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
