64 former and current political prisoners demand the unconditional release of Maryam Akbari-Monfared.
22-March-2024
Category: Prisoners، Women
March 21, 2024
News Group: Women – Prisoners –
Breathing in Confinement: 64 female political prisoners and activists have protested against the 15-year imprisonment without furlough for political prisoner Maryam Akbari-Monfared and demanded her unconditional release.
According to “Breathing in Confinement,” the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, former and current political prisoners have demanded the unconditional release of Maryam Akbari-Monfared and protested against her recent conviction to three years of additional imprisonment.
Part of their statement reads: “She is one of the oldest female political prisoners in Iran and a survivor of a family that has witnessed imprisonment, torture, and execution of its members since childhood. She has endured pressures and restrictions over the years, including being deprived of even a day of furlough!”
The full text of the statement is as follows:
“It has been 5107 days since Maryam Akbari-Monfared was detained without the right to furlough. She was arrested on the midnight of December 30, 2009, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
On March 9, 2021, at her fourteenth year of imprisonment, she was exiled to Semnan Prison kilometers away from her family’s residence city. She recently has been sentenced to an additional three years of imprisonment for releasing a statement in support of protesting people.
She is one of the oldest female political prisoners in Iran and a survivor of a family that has witnessed imprisonment, torture, and execution of its members since childhood. She has endured pressures and restrictions over the years, including being deprived of even a day of furlough!
Some of the signatories of this letter have been bound with her for years or months, witnessing a small part of the suffering and oppression that Maryam and her family have endured for decades. Maryam is a mother of three who has been denied the right to live with them for many years, yet she remains steadfast and has not succumbed to the hardships in prison.
With her unique smile and unparalleled resilience, she has become a symbol of resilience and perseverance in the struggle, as well as an inspiration for our determination to continue the fight.
The detention and unfair sentencing of Maryam Akbari-Monfared to 15 years of imprisonment, denial of her right to furlough and freedom, her exile to Semnan Prison, and now her re-sentencing to three years of additional imprisonment are further signs of rampant injustice to the family of Maryam Akbari-Monfared, as well as the Iranian women, and suppression of people who demand justice.
We, her former co-inmates, regardless of our beliefs and convictions, remember the spring of prison with Maryam and her enthusiasm for Norooz. Another Norooz has come, and she is still in prison. We remember her understanding of freedom and her right to achieve it. We remember the oppression that has befallen women in this land. And we remember the pioneers of resistance against this oppression and their struggle against it.
We, her former co-inmates and the women activists who have signed this letter, demand the unconditional release of Maryam Akbari-Monfared and all political and ideological prisoners.”
Signatories of the statement:
Anisha Asadollahi, Golrokh Iraei, Nazi Oskuei, Yasman Aryai, Aras Amiri, Mehrnoosh Amiri, Hasti Amiri, Marzieh Amiri, Maryam Asadi, Mitra Ebrahimi, Shahnaz Akmali, Raheleh Ahmadi, Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani, Mitra Ebrahimi, Zhila Bani Yaqoub, Giti Pourfazel, Niloufer Bayani, Fariba Totunchi, Susan Tebianian, Nayyereh Tahidi, Mahvash Sabet Shahriari, Maleeheh Jafari, Atefeh Chaharmahalian, Leila Hosseinzadeh, Maryam Hatami, Atena Daemi,
Parisa Rafiei, Shahla Rahmati, Nazanin Zaghari, Zahra Zahtabchi, Maryam Zandi, Nasim Sultan Beigi, Bahareh Soleimani, Ehtram Shadfar, Fakhri Shadfar, Saba Sheordoost, Hakime Shukri, Mansoureh Shojaei, Elaheh Shokrai, Hadis Sabouri, Zahra Sadeghi, Pegah Zia, Maryam Talebi, Narges Zarifian, Munirah Arabshahi, Raha Askarizadeh, Nahid Fathalian, Sepideh Gholia, Nagin Ghadamian, Ghonche Ghavami, Samaneh Ghasemi Zahid, Fariba Kamalabadi, Sepdieh Kashani, Mehrangiz Kar, Mahdieh Golru, Jaleh Gohari, Narges Mohammadi, Alieh Motallebzadeh, Firuzeh Mohajer, Zhila Makvandi, Mahnaz Mortezaei, Shiva Nazar Ahari, Siddigheh Wasmaghi, Shokufeh Yadullahi.