Political prisoner Maryam Akbari Monfared is facing a daunting new challenge as authorities move to seize her family’s property, reports the Sharq News Agency. The Executive Headquarters of Farman-e Imam (Khomeini’s Order) has launched a bid to confiscate her assets.
This development comes as Maryam Akbari Monfared nears the end of a 15-year prison sentence set to conclude in December 2024. Her defense lawyer, Mr. Hossein Taj, shared his concerns:
“By October this year, Mrs. Akbari Monfared will have completed her 15-year imprisonment without a single day of temporary release. In addition to this sentence, she faces an additional 2 years in prison from another case. Recently, yet another new case was filed against her at the request of the Executive Headquarters, invoking Article 49 of the Constitution for ongoing case oversight.”
Mr. Taj elaborated on the grave implications:
“The headquarters has levied serious allegations against Ms. Akbari Monfared’s family and relatives, seeking the confiscation of their property in favor of the Imam’s Order Implementation Headquarters. This matter has been referred to the 6th branch of the Revolutionary Court, specializing in Article 49 cases. The timeline for trial has yet to be set, with monitoring scheduled to commence in August.”
In response to these developments, her lawyer underscored a fundamental legal principle:
“The principle of ‘the personal nature of crimes and punishments,’ recognized in jurisprudence, Sharia, international law, and the Iranian Penal Code, stipulates that punishment should be strictly individual and should not extend to relatives. We urge the honorable court to reject the headquarters’ claims under Article 49, preserving justice and fairness in the legal process.”
Maryam Akbari Monfared was born on December 14, 1975, and is the mother of three daughters. She is one of the most resistant female political prisoners who has chosen to live free without bowing down to the mullahs.
She was taken to Evin prison “to provide some explanations” at midnight of December 29, 2009, without being able to say goodbye to her daughters. But she never returned home.
She was incarcerated because she seeks justice for four of her siblings executed in cold blood by the clerical regime in the 1980s. Her sister, Roghiyeh Akbari Monfared, had a little daughter when she was sent to the gallows among the prisoners massacred in the summer of 1988.
Throughout the years she spent behind bars, Maryam Akbari Monfared has always inspired other prisoners. Her heart is as big as an ocean filled with feelings for everyone around her. One of her cellmates, former political prisoner Atena Farghadani, describes her as “a woman whose resistance was a rainbow of hope for all the prisoners.”
So, prison authorities sent her to a remote prison to prevent her inspiring others. On March 9, 2021, they abruptly took her away to the Prison of Semnan and abandoned her among ordinary prisoners in violation of the principle of separation of crimes.
