Freed After 16 Years, Political Prisoner Maryam Akbari-Monfard Walks Out

IranWire has learned that Maryam Akbari-Monfard was released from Qarchak Prison moments ago, following the completion of her sentence.

The political prisoner was originally arrested in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. On October 12, 2024, at the end of her initial 15-year term, when she should have been released, she was instead sentenced to an additional two years and transferred to Veramin’s Qarchak Prison to serve the new term. Throughout her entire decade-and-a-half-long imprisonment, she was never granted a single day of furlough (leave).

Akbari-Monfard was accused of supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK). Her family has a long history of persecution; three of her brothers and one sister were executed during the 1980s.

In February 2017, she filed an official complaint with the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, requesting that the international body hold the Islamic Republic of Iran accountable regarding the fate of her siblings.

Following her complaint, the UN Working Group officially recognized her siblings, Roghayeh and Abdolreza Akbari-Monfard, as victims of “enforced disappearance.” The UN demanded that the Iranian government provide an explanation regarding their fate. Reports indicate that these individuals were among those executed during the 1988 mass executions in Iran.