Maryam Akbari Monfared, 40, the mother of three children and a citizen who protested the result of the controversial 2009 elections in Iran, was arrested in December of that year and sentenced to 15 years behind bars. In her 5th year in prison she writes:
“I was convicted without having a legal lawyer and I was not even allowed to defend myself.” Akbari Monfared was convicted on 1 June 2010 of ‘moharebe’ (enmity against God) through taking part in protest rallies and sentenced to 15 years behind bars. This ruling was upheld by an appeals court.
She writes about the impact of prison on her children: “I am a mother and my children have been visiting their mother from behind the windows of the prison’s meeting hall for more than five years now. The only thing that I have requested was justice, which apparently cannot be found in any state courts branches!
“People in this society and mothers in this land are accused and convicted without the slightest right to defend themselves.”
(Iran Political Prisoners Society – June 24, 2015)