The Iranian Resistance has called on Ms. Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, to meet with and obtain information about the fate of five political prisoners.
Following a public appeal by the distressed mother of Bijan Kazemi—who has only managed a single two-minute phone call after 120 days of her son’s detention and has been denied any visitation despite repeated efforts—the Iranian Resistance has urged Ms. Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, and other international human rights bodies to secure immediate and direct access to political prisoners Bijan Kazemi, Mohammad Akbari Monfared, Amirhossein Akbari Monfared, and Maryam Akbari Monfared and to provide a report on the health conditions and treatment of each of them.
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Bijan Kazemi
Bijan Kazemi, born in 1981 in Kuhdasht, was arrested by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence in March 2020 and spent more than two years in Khorramabad Prison. After his release, he was placed under surveillance with an electronic ankle bracelet for one and a half years. His initial arrest had already been reported to the UN Special Rapporteur and Amnesty International. His re-arrest on January 20, 2025, took place without any legal justification or formal charges.
Amirhossein Akbari Monfared
On January 19, 2025—just one day after the killing of two notorious regime judges, Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghiseh—a group of security agents wearing bulletproof vests and carrying military-grade weapons stormed the home of Amirhossein Akbari Monfared, 22 years old. They violently arrested him, and to this day, no information is available about his whereabouts or condition.
Mohammad Akbari Monfared
Two days later, on January 21, agents returned to the family’s home and this time arrested Amirhossein’s father, Mohammad Akbari Monfared. Mohammad is a former political prisoner from the 2000s and was also arrested during the 2022 uprising. He too has been held in complete incommunicado detention.
Subsequently, security interrogators have tried to coerce and intimidate the families in an attempt to uncover any ties to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), launching a fresh wave of repression and pressure against them.
Maryam Akbari Monfared
Maryam Akbari Monfared, a well-known member of this family, has now spent 16 years in Qarchak Prison in Varamin without a single medical furlough and is being held among common criminals. Her health is reported to be in critical condition. Three of her brothers and one sister were executed by Iran’s regime in the 1980s. Her only “crime” has been seeking justice for those loved ones.
Thus, the Iranian Resistance has urged Ms. Mai Sato to visit and obtain information on the fate of these prisoners, whose families have been left in the dark for an extended period and whose lives are in serious danger.
