Political prisoner, Maryam Akbari Monfared, born in 1975, has been confined for 12 years now. At the beginning of March 2021, after 11 years in prison she was banished to Semnan Prison, 220 km away from her family. Force and violence were implied in her transfer; none of the regime’s judiciary officials have accepted the responsibility for this relocation.
Since her exile to Semnan Prison, Maryam Akbari Monfared is kept in a ward allocated to prisoners of common and violent crimes. Calls limitation, shortage of water and minimum hygienic gears are amongst her problems in this prison. She is also deprived of seeing her children as she is very far from home.
Maryam was arrested two days after the Ashura Protests in December 2009. She was first sentenced to death on the charges of “Moharebeh” (enmity on God) which was later commuted to 15 years in prison. She is detained and jailed for contacting some of her family members, belongings to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The notorious judge Salavati directly told her: “You are here instead of your sister and your brothers.”
One of her brothers, Alireza, was executed in late summer of 1981 and another Qolamreza, was executed in 1965 on the charges of connection with and being a member of PMOI. One of her sisters, Roghyeh, and another brother, Abdolreza, were victims of the massacre of political prisoners in Iran in the summer of 1988.
Maryam has two daughters. The little one was 4 at the time of her arrest. In addition to that, she is the guardian of her slain sister’s daughter too.
In mid-winter of 2017, Maryam Akbari Monfared filed a complaint with the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances and called on the organization to question the Islamic Republic of Iran about the case and fate of her siblings who were executed in 1988. The UN Working Group recognized the cases of Roghiyeh and Abdolreza Akbari-Monfared, as “enforced disappearances” and asked Iran to explain about their fate. Following this courageous complaint, the Iranian authorities started a new phase of “harassment” and “torture” against Maryam and her family.
In August 2021, Amnesty International issued an urgent action calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Maryam Akbari Monfared, pointing out that she has been unjustly jailed for nearly 12 years.
She is suffering from thyroid and skin diseases and pain in her joints and bones. During the past 12 years, she has not been granted even one day of furlough.
The Italian Federation for Human Rights calls on UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Bachelet and on the related UN Rapporteurs and EU Officials to take urgent measures to get her rights respected, lift all the restrictions from her and and to ensure her immediate release.