In a joint statement, two Iranian human rights organizations called for the release of political prisoner, Maryam Akbari Monfared, who has been jailed for nearly 10 years.
The two organizations, Iran Human Rights Campaign and Justice for Iran, said “Iran must immediately end the cruel and illegitimate imprisonment of Maryam Akbari Monfared, who should have been freed in 2017."
According to the statement, Monfared's charges have never been substantiated.
“Even under Iran’s New Penal Code, her conviction should have been overturned. But even if she had been convicted of new charges again, she would have been eligible for release back in 2017."
Monfared was arrested in winter of 2009, on charges of “supporting the banned Mojahedin-e Khalgh organization (MEK)” and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Since her arrest, she has not been allowed to leave prison for any vocation.
According to Article 58 of the New Penal Code, "if a person is sentenced to more than 10 years of prison sentence for a discretionary offense, the convicted person is eligible for conditional release after serving half of the period of the sentence."
Monfared’s three sisters and one brother were executed during the mass execution of summer 1988.
Back in 2009, Monfared submitted a request to the authorities, demanding a legal investigation on the execution of her sisters and brother. She was especially looking after their burial sites.
In 1988, thousands of prisoners, primarily MEK supporters as well as other political prisoners, were secretly executed in mass hangings and death squads by “death commissions” that were established by then Supreme Leader and Islamic Republic founder Ruhollah Khomeini.
Any investigation on the numbers of people who have been executed at that time is forbidden in Iran under the Islamic Republic.
