On the evening of October 9, 2025, dozens of female political prisoners were transferred from Qarchak Prison in Varamin to Evin Prison. Yet Maryam Akbari Monfared, one of Iran’s longest held and most resilient female political prisoners, remains detained in Qarchak despite her deteriorating health condition.
According to informed sources inside the prison, Maryam Akbari Monfared has been suffering for months from severe back and knee pain, numbness in her legs, and mobility impairment. Despite repeated recommendations from medical specialists and an official report from the Legal Medicine Organization (forensic authority) confirming the urgent need for daily physiotherapy and medical care, prison authorities have consistently refused to transfer her to a medical facility.
Relatives of this political prisoner report: “Maryam needs assistance even with basic tasks, but prison officials insist she must obtain a judge’s permission for medical treatment. Two weeks have passed since her formal request was submitted, and no response has been issued.” Doctors have warned that the continued denial of treatment could result in permanent nerve damage and loss of bladder control.
Previous forensic medical assessments had also emphasized the necessity of back and knee surgery, but due to the deliberate medical neglect, her condition has severely worsened. Sources inside the prison say that she endures unbearable pain at night and can only move with the help of strong painkillers.
Qarchak Prison, notorious as one of the most inhumane women’s prisons in Iran, is characterized by overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and systematic medical neglect. The detention of political prisoners alongside inmates convicted of violent crimes has been repeatedly condemned by international human rights organizations.
While most female political prisoners have been transferred from Qarchak to Evin prison, the authorities’ refusal to move Maryam Akbari Monfared and their ongoing obstruction of her access to medical care constitute a clear act of retaliation and targeted mistreatment against one of Iran’s most steadfast and emblematic women prisoners of conscience.
Having spent more than 15 years behind bars, Maryam Akbari Monfared is one of the longest-imprisoned female political prisoners in Iran, second only to Zeinab Jalalian who is serving life sentence.
Her family, too, has long been a target of state repression: two of her brothers were executed in 1981 and 1984, and her younger brother and sister were executed during the 1988 massacre.
Maryam Akbari Monfared, arrested in 2009 on politically motivated charges and sentenced to a lengthy prison term, has already served her initial 15-year sentence, which officially ended in November 2024. Nevertheless, she now faces an additional two-year prison sentence as well as several new cases brought against her. These fresh charges, such as “propaganda against the state” and “insulting the Supreme Leader,” stem from her continued efforts to expose human rights violations and the inhumane conditions inside Iranian prisons.
