Systematic Denial of Basic Rights to Supporters of the PMOI
On Sunday, February 14, 2026, Mrs. Robabeh Masouri, mother of political prisoner Saeed Masouri, passed away after years of illness compounded by the anguish of prolonged separation from her son.
Under standard legal practice, prisoners in Iran are typically granted temporary leave to attend the funeral and burial ceremonies of immediate family members. However, political prisoners accused of affiliation with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) are systematically denied this basic humanitarian right.
Despite repeated requests from his family, Saeed Masouri was not permitted to attend his mother’s funeral. This pattern has been repeated in other cases: political prisoners including Gholamhossein Kalbi (Sheiban Prison, Ahvaz), Mohammad Javad Vafaei-Sani (Mashhad), Shahrokh Daneshvar-Kar (Ghezel Hesar Prison), and Marzieh Farsi (Evin Prison) were similarly barred from attending the burial ceremonies of their parents.
According to fellow inmates, Mrs. Masouri, who reportedly suffered from depression and memory loss during her son’s long incarceration, never forgot Wednesdays, the designated visitation day. One former cellmate recounted that after a prison visit ended, as Saeed was escorted back to his ward, his mother attempted to follow him inside. When a guard asked where she was going, she replied: “I want to be with my Saeed. I have not truly seen my son for years.”
In her final days, she was once again denied the opportunity to see him.
Who Is Saeed Masouri?
Saeed Masouri, born in 1965 in Khorramabad, is one of Iran’s prominent and longest-held political prisoners, having spent 26 consecutive years in prison without a single day of medical furlough. He studied medicine prior to his arrest.
He was detained in January 2000 in Dezful. In 2002, Branches of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced him to death on charges of “enmity against God” (moharebeh) for alleged cooperation with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran. His death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. He is currently held in Ghezel Hesar Prison.
The death of Robabeh Masouri underscores the ongoing human cost borne not only by political prisoners in Iran but also by their families. We extend our condolences to her relatives, to members of the Iranian Resistance, and especially to her son, Saeed Masouri, who remains imprisoned.
