Maryam Akbari Monfared, a political prisoner, has spent the past 12 years in prison in Iran after being convicted in an unfair trial.

Akbari-Monfared is currently serving a 15-year sentence for “enmity against God” (moharebeh), a charge based on her alleged membership in the banned opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK). Amnesty International reported that her conviction was founded on a visit and phone calls she made to family members who are MEK members. Sources close to the case have said that during Akbari-Monfared’s trial over a decade ago, the judge said she would be “paying for the activities of her brother and sister,” a form of unlawful collective punishment. Her brother and sister were among those killed during the 1988 mass executions of prisoners.

In 2013, Iranian lawmakers amended Iran’s penal code for the charge of “enmity against God” and adopted a narrower definition of “drawing a weapon on the life, property or chastity of people or to cause terror as it creates the atmosphere of insecurity.” Akbari-Monfared’s family argued that this definition should be applied retroactively, and authorities should have released her that year.

In October 2016, Akbari-Monfared filed a formal complaint inside Evin prison seeking an official investigation into the 1988 mass executions. Since then, she has faced a series of reprisals, as prison authorities cancelled her access to medical care and restricted visits from family members, including her three children.

In March, authorities transferred Akbari-Monfared from Tehran’s Evin Prison to Senman Prison, about 350 kilometers away from her family. Disruptions to family life by making visitations unnecessarily extremely difficult or impossible constitutes a violation of prisoners’ rights, as provided by the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

Authorities should release Akbari-Monfared and ensure that everyone can seek truth and justice about the 1988 mass executions of prisoners without fear of reprisal.