Maryam Akbari Monfared, a political prisoner held in Qarchak Prison, continues to be denied consistent access to specialized medical treatment, a delay that could lead to a serious deterioration of her physical condition and the need for knee surgery.
Over the past week, she has been transferred several times to medical facilities outside the prison to receive physiotherapy and chiropractic care. However, prison authorities have conditioned the continuation of her treatment on referrals to state-run medical centers, facilities which lack the capacity to provide the specialized care she requires. Her request for access to an appropriate treatment center on her own expense has so far gone unanswered.
This comes even though the Legal Medicine Organization and the supervising judge had previously approved her transfer to specialized medical facilities. Her treating physician has also warned of serious consequences should her treatment be interrupted.
Maryam Akbari Monfared, a mother of three daughters, was transferred to Qarchak Prison in November 2024 after serving 15 years of exile imprisonment, in order to begin serving a new two-year sentence on charges of “propaganda against the regime and spreading falsehoods.” The restrictions imposed on her access to medical care and legal counsel constitute a clear violation of prisoners’ fundamental rights and Iran’s international human rights obligations.
First arrested in 2009, Maryam Akbari Monfared was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Members of her family were also victims of the mass executions of the 1980s, including the 1988 prison massacre. After Zeynab Jalalian, she is among the longest-held female political prisoners in Iran.
