Maryam Akbari Monfared

Maryam Akbari Monfared Transferred to Qarchak Prison After 15 Years in Exile for Further Torture

Maryam Akbari Monfared, one of the longest-serving female political prisoners in Iran, has been transferred from Semnan Prison to Qarchak Prison in Varamin for further mistreatment, after serving 15 years in prison without a single day of furlough.

The Iranian judiciary, in an attempt to prevent her release after completing her 15-year sentence, added an additional two years on fabricated charges. Maryam was originally supposed to be released in 2019 after serving 10 years, but was forcibly kept in prison for an additional five years, and now faces a further two-year extension.

Her new convictions, stemming from two sham trials in Semnan and Evin, include:

• Propaganda against the state

• Insulting the Supreme Leader

• Assembly and collusion

• Spreading false information and disturbing public opinion

• Inciting people against national security

However, her main “crime” is seeking justice for her siblings who were killed during political purges in 1981 and 1984. Her brother Alireza Akbari was executed under torture in 1981, Gholamreza Akbari in 1984, and her siblings Rogheyeh and Abdolreza Akbari were killed during the 1988 mass executions of political prisoners.

In July 2024, the regime seized her and her family’s property in retaliation for her pursuit of justice.

UN Special Rapporteur Javid Rehman, in his June 2025 report on “atrocities in Iran,” highlighted Maryam Akbari Monfared as a striking example of a political prisoner facing continued repression. Despite filing a complaint from prison in 2016 regarding her siblings’ execution, she endured 15 years of imprisonment without furlough, exile from her children, and denial of visits, and was recently sentenced to an additional two years.

The Women’s Commission of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and international human rights bodies, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, and other rights defenders, have called for an immediate end to her persecution and her release, condemning the Iranian regime’s treatment of political prisoners, especially women.