Who is political prisoner Maryam Akbari Monfared?

Name and Surname: Maryam Akbari Monfared

Place of birth: Tehran

Date of birth: 1975

Education: Diploma – housewife

Accusations: rioting, action against national security, propaganda against the regime and Moharebeh through membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.

Sentence: 15 years

Date of last arrest: December 31, 2009

Places of imprisonment: Rajaei Shahr Prison, Qarchak, Varamin, Evin

Compilation and arrangement: November 2019

Last update: February 2022

Who is political prisoner Maryam Akbari Monfared?

Political prisoner Maryam Akbari Monfared is the mother of two daughters. Her little daughter was 4 years old when her mother was detained. She is also the guardian of his sister’s daughter. 4 members of her family were executed as supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization in the sixties. Maryam Akbari’s two brothers executed in 1981 and 1984 on charges of being members of People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran. And her younger brother and other sister executed in 1988 massacre.

Maryam Akbari Monfared was tortured, interrogated and imprisoned in one of the solitary cells of Ward 209 of Evin Prison for about 9 months. She then transferred to Gohardasht prison and from April 1990 she was transferred to Qarchak Varamin prison. She was imprisoned in the women’s ward of Evin Prison since October 2010 in Rajaei Shahr Prison and transferred to Qarchak Varamin Prison in May 2011. However, after repeated protests, she was transferred to the women’s ward of Evin prison.

Maryam Akbari Monfared arrested in December 2009

Maryam Akbari Monfared arrested in December 2009 after the large demonstration on the Day of Ashura in 2009. On June 1, 2010. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Judge Salvati. She was not allowed to appoint a lawyer in the court, and a lawyer was appointed for her. The charge of this political prisoner is war through membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran. She did not consider this accusation and did not accept it. Judge Salvati told him in the court: “These problems of yours are because of your brothers and sister”.

In May 2011, Maryam Akbari Monfared transferred to Qarchak Varamin prison along with 8 other female prisoners. She then transferred to the women’s ward of Evin prison due to protesting the prison conditions. The reason for her transfer was to write numerous letters to international forums and to Ahmed Shahid, the human rights reporter of the United Nations.

Political prisoner Maryam Akbari, after 12 years of imprisonment without a single day of medical leave, was suddenly and violently deported from Evin prison. And transferred to Semnan prison on Tuesday, March 9, 2021.
Maryam Akbari Monfared has been deprived of leave throughout her imprisonment. She was diagnosed with rheumatoid disease in prison and according to herself, she does not sleep at night because of the pain, but she was denied being sent to hospitals and medical centers outside the prison.
Former prisoners who have been with Maryam Akbari have repeatedly talked about her high moral qualities, very strong spirit, vitality and cheerfulness.

Maryam Akbari Monfared was among the female political prisoners who signed the statement boycotting the 2019 Iran’s elections.

Some letters and comments of Maryam Akbari:

In January 2022, in the midst of the nationwide uprising and demonstrations of 2022, while expressing her experiences of resistance in prison. She wrote: I recommend to all the sons and daughters of the rebels and their families to resist the interrogators with as much faith as possible.

She also wrote:
“13 years, which was a breath-taking battle to pass second by second. Counting 13 years day by day (that is 4 thousand and 745 days) makes a person tired. What if she wants to spend 4 thousand and 745 days one by one in the middle of an unequal war.!! This is not a 4,000-page story, it is the naked reality of life under the domination of the fascists who imposed it on us, and we did not want to surrender.

Although I wanted to be with my children, what mother doesn’t? But I do not regret, but I am more determined to continue my path. I have said this every time in every formal and informal interrogation session, and I am happy to repeat it!

I stayed away from my children for 13 years, but I saw the crime with my own eyes for 13 years, and my determination became stronger.

Talking about 13 years of non-stop battle, but the short word is that “one day, I will finally sing the song of victory from the mountain like the sun.”

   This is a true battle of one of the heroic and revolutionary women of Iran after 13 years of imprisonment in the prisons of the misogynistic regime.

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