Iranian political prisoner Maryam Akbari Monfared, imprisoned in Semnan Prison, wrote a shocking letter at the beginning of her 14th year of imprisonment, which affects every waking conscience. She expressed her support for the nationwide protests in Iran.

Akbari Monfared, the mother of three, was arrested on December 29, 2009, on the charge of supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). She was taken to Evin prison in the middle of the night, without a warrant and under the pretext of providing explanations. 

“Without a chance to say goodbye to my loved ones, they took me to Evin prison to give some explanations and made the ridiculous promise that ‘you will return to your children in the morning,’” Akbari Monfared wrote. “As of December 29, 2022, thirteen years have passed since I was separated from my 4-year-old Sarah and my two 12-year-old daughters on that winter midnight.”

Since Maryam’s arrest, she has not had a single day of leave and has been under constant torture and pressure, including denying urgent medical treatment. 

“This is not a 4,000-page story, but the pure reality of a life under the domination of fascists who imposed it on us while we refused to give in,” Akbari Monfared wrote. “On this side of the bars, in the dark desert of torture and oppression, as far as one can see – even where one cannot see – there is just vileness and brutality.”

In her letter, Maryam Akbari Monfared expressed her support for the nationwide protests that have been ongoing across Iran since September 16, when the regime’s security forces murdered Mahsa Amini, a 23-year-old woman arrested on charges of violating the regime’s oppressive hijab rules. The protests have turned into a full-fledged uprising calling for the overthrow of the regime in its entirety.

“To my daughters and sons, who are bravely on the streets… I say: if you are arrested, do not trust the interrogators even an iota,” Akbari Monfared wrote. “To the grieving families … I say that I share in their grief too. I hold their hands from here and stand shoulder to shoulder with them, stronger than before, for justice. With the news of every protest, uprising, and sparks of this rebellious flame, the hearts of women whose only hope of freedom is to break these iron gates are filled with hope.”