News Center- Ashkan Monfared, brother of political prisoner Shakila Monfared held in Evin Prison, announced on his Twitter account yesterday that his sister was summoned to testify by the Evin Security Court on Wednesday on charges of “communicating with anti-revolutionary groups while on medical leave.”

“I called my sister when she was receiving treatment at the hospital to learn how she was. My sister now faces a new charge because of my call,” his tweet said.

In August 2020, Shakila Monfared was arrested in Tehran by Iranian security forces as she was leaving her home for her social media posts. In September 2020, she was released from prison on bail. In January 2021, Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran convicted her for “insulting Islamic sanctities” and “propaganda against the state”. She was sentenced to six years and four months in prison. Then, Branch 36 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran reduced her sentence to four years and two months.

In February 2021, another case was brought against her while in prison and she was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison on new charges described as “membership in one of the anti-regime groups and spreading lies.”

In the beginning of July 2023, she was granted a two-month medical leave because she was suffering from gallbladder disease. Although her family paid a bail of fifty billion rials, she was denied medical leave for gallbladder surgery for about a month. Then, she was temporarily released from prison and underwent a gallbladder surgery. Although she was granted a two-month medical leave, she was transferred back to Evin prison on August 19, 2023.