Maryam Akbari Monfared, a political prisoner in Iran, has endured eight days in solitary confinement at Qarchak Prison in Varamin since her transfer on October 22, 2024.
Despite completing her 15-year prison sentence on October 11, 2024, authorities have imposed an additional two-year prison term on her without substantiating evidence, allegedly as an act of retribution.
In early July 2024, Akbari Monfared faced new charges, marking the beginning of additional legal challenges intended to seize her and her family’s assets. According to the government-affiliated news agency Shargh, Iran’s “Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order” (EIKO) has filed a legal claim seeking confiscation of her family’s property.
Attorney Hossein Taj, representing Akbari Monfared, noted, “This past October, her 15-year sentence was due to end. Throughout her imprisonment, she was never granted furlough. However, she now faces an additional two-year sentence and another ongoing case prompted by a request from the office overseeing cases under Article 49 of the Constitution.”
The case of Maryam Akbari Monfared continues to draw international attention as advocates call for accountability and adherence to legal norms in Iran’s judicial proceedings against political prisoners.
Background:
Akbari Monfared was initially detained on December 31, 2009, following her participation in protests. In June 2010, Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, under Judge Salavati, sentenced her to 15 years in prison on charges of “enmity against God” for alleged membership in the banned opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). After 13 years in Evin Prison, she was transferred to Semnan Prison on March 9, 2021.
Akbari Monfared’s family has faced similar state reprisals; three of her brothers and one sister were executed by the current regime on charges related to their support for the PMOI. In 1988, two of her siblings, Abdolreza and Roghieh, were executed during a series of mass political prisoner executions. In February 2017, Akbari Monfared filed a complaint with the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, requesting an investigation into the executions of her brother and sister as part of the 1988 killings. In response, the UN Working Group recognized her siblings as enforced disappearance victims and requested Iran to provide information on their cases.
Recently, Akbari Monfared has been subject to additional accusations. In early September 2023, she was sentenced to an extra two years in prison and fined 150 million rials (about $300), with just over a year remaining on her original sentence. These new charges include “propaganda against the state,” “insulting the leadership,” and “assembly and collusion against national security,” reportedly due to social media content posted about her case.
In July 2023, she faced an indictment for “spreading falsehoods” that was transferred to Semnan Public Court after the Revolutionary Court declared itself unqualified to handle the case. Akbari Monfared did not attend the August 7, 2023, hearing, citing her lack of recognition of the court’s legitimacy; a verdict was rendered in absentia.
