The Ministry of Intelligence is framing Maryam Akbari Monfared and intensifying pressure on her
25-July-2022
Category: Prisoners، Women
July 25, 2022
News group: women – prisoners –
Breathing in Confinement: Maryam Akbari Monfared, a political prisoner in Semnan Prison who is spending the 13th year of her sentence, has faced a new case filed against her by the Ministry of Intelligence for “propaganda against the regime”. The trial, which was scheduled for Tuesday, July 19, was later postponed.
According to “Breathing in Confinement”, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, the Ministry of Intelligence in Semnan Province has recently opened a new case against the political prisoner, Maryam Akbari Monfared, in her 13th year in prison, on the charge of “propaganda against the regime”. In addition, in the past few weeks, the pressures against her have increased.
“Maryam Akbari Monfared who is in Semnan Prison was summoned to the court on Saturday, July 16, 2022, on the charge of “propaganda against the regime”. However, as her lawyer had not been notified, Mrs. Akbari Monfared refused to appear in the court requesting for the presence of her lawyer,” said an informed source to Breathing in Confinement.
The source added: “A new notification was issued for Tuesday, July 19, but Ms. Monfared’s lawyer objected to this due to non-compliance with the law article on the requirement of minimum of 5 days between summons and hearing date. After Maryam Akbari Monfared refused to appear in court, the prison authorities informed her that she must resume the process of appointing her lawyer.
“It is illegal to ask Ms. Akbari Monfared to resume the process of appointing her lawyer. Because Mr. Hossein Taj has been officially registered as her lawyer for several years. These actions are only aimed to harass Maryam Akbari and to put pressure on her. They have filed a new case against her while neither Maryam, nor her lawyer or her family know about the nature of her accusations,” said the source regarding the intensified pressures against Maryam Akbari Monfared.
The source added: “Another example of the pressure against Mrs. Akbari Monfared is threatening ordinary female prisoners and prohibiting them from any communication and conversation with her. In recent months, the prison authorities have put pressure on her cellmates and threatened them not to talk to Maryam.”
In addition to their efforts to isolate Mrs. Akbari Monfared, the prison authorities have also denied her the right to medical treatment and care despite her suffering from fatty liver disease.
In March 2021, after 12 years of imprisonment, Maryam Akbari was deported from Evin to Semnan Prison.
Since the time of her exile to Semnan prison, Mrs. Monfared has been denied the right to call her family to whom she is only allowed to call in the presence of a prison guard.
It should be noted that Maryam Akbari Monfared was arrested by the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence in December 2009, and was later sentenced to 15 years in prison in an unfair trial by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court headed by Judge Salvati for the charge of “Moharebeh”.
Three brothers and one sister of Maryam Akbari were executed in the prisons of the Islamic Republic in the 1980s. One of her brothers named Abdul Reza and her sister Ruqiya were among the prisoners executed in the massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1988.
In 2016, in a complaint to the judiciary of the Islamic Republic, Maryam Akbari asked about the reason for the execution and the burial place of her siblings. However, the case was never investigated. Instead, the officials of the Ministry of Intelligence threatened her to withdraw her complaint. They as well threatened her to cut off her access to essential treatments.
In February 2017, Maryam Akbari Monfared filed a complaint with the the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances asking the group to make the Islamic Republic accountable about the fate of her siblings.
Following her complaint, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances recognized Maryam’s siblings Ruqiya and Abdolreza Akbari Monfared as the victims of “enforced disappearance” and asked the Islamic Republic of Iran to she a light on their fate.
On October 17, 2016, after filing a complaint about the execution of her siblings in 1988, Maryam Akbari Monfared was denied medical care and threatened with adding 3 years to her prison sentence as well as being exiled to a prison in Sistan and Baluchestan.
In April 2019, Amnesty International issued a statement calling for the immediate release of Maryam Akbari Monfared and called on the Iranian authorities to end the “harassment” and “torture” of her and her family. Also, on August 27, 2021, Amnesty International issued a statement calling for immediate action to save the life of Maryam Akbari Monfared.