Maryam Akbari Monfared (; born 14 December 1976) is a supporter of the
People's Mojahedin of Iran. Three of her brothers and one of her sisters were executed during the
1988 mass executions in Iran.She is mother of the three
Arrest and Prison
Monfared was arrested on 31 December 2009 and was forcibly disappeared for five months. She was detained in solitary confinement for the first 43 days of her imprisonment, and interviewed without access to a lawyer. The lawyer assigned to her by the Iranian government only met and spoke to her during the trial, which consisted of a single hearing of less than one hour. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Branch 15 Revolutionary Court in
Tehran
Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
in May 2010, which condemned her for "enmity against God" (''moharebeh''). The
UN Working Group on Forced or Involuntary Disappearances called on Iran to investigate the disappeared relatives of Maryam Akbari Monfared to find out their fate.
She has three daughters, her youngest was a just toddler when she was imprisoned. She has been named a
prisoner of conscience
A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...
by
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
as her conviction is solely based on an arbitrary interference with her privacy, family and correspondence. Akbari Monfared, despite serving a decade in prison, has not been allowed a single day of furlough so far, and she has not been allowed to attend the weddings nor funerals of her relatives. She has faced discrimination in prison from the prison guards and at times refused medical treatment.
International calls
Even while detained, Maryam campaigns and raises her voice by publishing open letters about prison conditions for women. Also while in prison, she filed a formal complaint demanding truth and justice for her siblings and several thousand political prisoners who were victims of extrajudicial executions in 1988. As a result, she has been threatened with an extended prison sentence and denied medical care.
On October 10, 2018, she and three other prisoners,
Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and
Atena Daemi wrote a letter addressed to the United Nations Special Rapporteur
Javaid Rehman, asking him to come to Iran to witness violations of human rights occurring in the country in person.
See also
*
Human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
The state of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran has been regarded as very poor. The United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Commission[Human Rights Activists in Iran
Human Rights Activists in Iran (; also known as HRAI, HRA and HRANA) is a non-political non-governmental organization composed of advocates who defend human rights in Iran. HRAI was founded in 2006.
History
HRAI was founded in 2006 by a small g ...]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monfared, Maryam Akbari
Living people
Iranian human rights activists
Women human rights activists
Year of birth missing (living people)
Political prisoners in Iran