Release of Maryam Akbari Monfared After 17 Years of Imprisonment Without Leave
9-April-2026
Category: Prisoners
8 April 2026
News Group: Prisoners
Breathing in Confinement: On Wednesday, 8 April 2026, Ms Maryam Akbari Monfared, after 17 years of imprisonment without even a single day of leave, was released from Qarchak Prison.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, Maryam Akbari Monfared, a political prisoner and one of the justice-seekers of the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners, was released today from Qarchak Prison in Varamin after 17 years of imprisonment without even a single day of leave.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, Maryam Akbari Monfared, after 17 years of imprisonment without leave, was released from Qarchak Prison in Varamin.
Maryam Akbari Monfared was arrested in January 2009 and subsequently tried on charges of “enmity against God” (moharebeh) in Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Salavati, without access to a lawyer or the right to defence, and was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment.
Amnesty International, in a statement published in 2019, called for an end to the torture and harassment of her and her family, as well as her immediate release. The statement noted: “This prisoner of conscience, in 2016, after filing a complaint demanding an official investigation into the mass killing of political prisoners in the summer of 1988 – including her siblings – faced retaliatory measures and was deprived of access to medical services and family visits.”
Following Maryam Akbari Monfared’s efforts to seek justice for her siblings, she was, without any prior order, exiled to Semnan Prison on 9 March 2021. However, despite the completion of her 15-year sentence, a new case was opened against her, and she was sentenced to an additional two years’ imprisonment. The charges brought in the new case included “propaganda against the system”, “insulting the leadership”, “assembly and collusion”, “spreading falsehoods and disturbing public opinion”, and “inciting people against national security”.
Alireza Akbari died under torture in September 1981, and Gholamreza Akbari was executed in 1985 on charges of membership in the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation. Roghiyeh and Abdolreza Akbari were also executed during the mass killing of political prisoners in the summer of 1988.
It is worth noting that in July 2024, the judiciary also issued an order to confiscate the assets of Maryam Akbari Monfared and her relatives in connection with her pursuit of justice for her family members.