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Amnesty International Issue Urgent Action Notice for Iranian Female Prisoner Threatened With Extended Sentence

Maryam-Akbari-Monfared

NCRI Staff

NCRI – In May this year, political prisoner Maryam Akbari Monfared’s husband, Hassan Jafari Hatam, was summoned to Tehran for an interrogation. He was unaware of why he would be summoned, but he went to the Ministry of Intelligence office anyway.

When he got there, he was abused and officials said that his wife’s sentence would be extended by an extra three years. They explained to Hassan that this was because his wife was writing about her siblings, and the tens of thousands of other political prisoners, who were killed during the 1988 massacre, in open letters from prison.

Last year, Maryam filed a formal complaint calling on an investigation into the 1988 massacre and has since written several open letters.

On Monday, Amnesty International published an updated Urgent Action notice regarding her case saying that she was threatened to an extended sentence because she is seeking justice for the unlawful massacre of 1988.

Amnesty International’s statement pointed out that Maryam’s official complaint has not been processed, and as a punishment authorities have denied her urgent medical appointments that are essential to treat her thyroid problems and issues with rheumatoid arthritis which is giving her severe pain.

Maryam has been in prison since the end of 2009. She was given a 15 year sentence on the charge of “enmity against God”, however her only “crime” was to speak to relatives over the phone who are members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). The PMOI is a legitimate opposition group that is fighting for the rights of the people of Iran.

Regarding the time just after her arrest, the notice from Amnesty International stated: “Maryam Akbari Monfared was arrested on 31 December 2009. For the next five months, her family remained unaware of her fate and whereabouts. She was held in solitary confinement during the first 43 days after her arrest, where she underwent intense interrogations and was denied access to a lawyer throughout. She met her state-appointed lawyer for the first time at her trial, which was limited to one brief session. In May 2010, she was sentenced to 15 years in prison after Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran convicted her of “enmity against God” (moharebeh). The court issued its verdict despite the absence of any evidence that she had been involved in armed activities. Amnesty International understands that Maryam Akbari Monfared was not provided with a written judgement, setting out the evidence and legal reasoning relied upon to convict her. Her husband has said that during her trial session, the judge told her she was paying for the activities of her relatives with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, a banned opposition group that advocates the overthrow of the Iranian government. Branch 33 of the Supreme Court upheld the sentence in August 2010.”

It added that despite Maryam’s request for a retrial, the Supreme Court decided that her case would not be heard again.

The 1988 massacre in Iran personally affected Maryam because her siblings were among the 30,000 victims. They were buried in mass unmarked graves.