Tragic End in Karaj: Woman Jailed Over $30 Debt Succumbs to Medical Condition

A somber vigil outside Fardis Prison in Karaj, Iran, where Maryam Shahraki's tragic death highlights ongoing healthcare failures and judicial inequities. (Photo: Unknown)

Karaj, Iran – September 14, 2025 – The untimely death of Maryam Shahraki, a 32-year-old mother of two, in Fardis Prison (also known as Kachouii Prison) has ignited fresh outrage over Iran's beleaguered prison system, where chronic medical neglect and punitive debt laws claim lives amid widespread judicial inequities. Shahraki succumbed to what eyewitnesses describe as a preventable cardiac episode on September 12, after prison staff dismissed her agony as mere indigestion and offered only over-the-counter remedies.

According to reports from human rights monitors and inmate accounts, Shahraki first complained of excruciating chest pain late on September 11. Rushed to the facility's understaffed infirmary, she was examined by a general practitioner and nurse who attributed her symptoms to gastrointestinal distress—a fatal misjudgment that delayed critical intervention. Prescribed a handful of generic analgesics, she was shuttled back to her cell block without imaging, specialist consultation, or transfer to an external hospital. By 4 a.m. the next day, her blood pressure plummeted catastrophically, and she passed away en route to emergency care, her pleas for help unheeded in the facility's dimly lit corridors.

Shahraki's story is one of quiet desperation: a young wife ensnared in a financial snare that ensnares thousands of ordinary Iranians annually. She and her husband, both low-wage laborers from a working-class neighborhood in Karaj, were convicted in a joint fraud case tied to a modest business venture gone awry. Unable to settle a 3 billion rial debt—equivalent to roughly $30 amid Iran's spiraling inflation and black-market exchange rates—they were sentenced to concurrent terms under the Islamic Penal Code's harsh provisions for "financial crimes." Her spouse remains incarcerated at nearby Karaj Central Prison, leaving their preschool-aged children in the care of extended family, who now grapple with grief and destitution.

This incident is no outlier; it underscores a deepening humanitarian crisis in Iran's correctional facilities, where debt imprisonment—a relic of pre-revolutionary laws—traps the impoverished while shielding the elite. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have long documented how such policies disproportionately affect women, who comprise over 7% of Iran's 250,000-plus prison population, often for micro-debts exacerbated by economic sanctions and subsidy cuts.In 2024 alone, at least 12 women died in custody from untreated ailments, per data from the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, with causes ranging from untreated infections to organ failure.

Fardis Prison, a sprawling complex in Alborz Province housing some 2,500 inmates—mostly for non-violent offenses like bounced checks and dowry defaults—has become synonymous with substandard care. Internal audits leaked to opposition outlets reveal a dire shortfall: just three physicians for the entire women's wing, chronic shortages of antibiotics and diagnostics, and protocols that prioritize cost-cutting over lives. Inmates receive little beyond aspirin and herbal teas, with transfers to public hospitals bottlenecked by bureaucratic red tape and security protocols.

The facility's woes trace back years. A 2023 hunger strike by 15 female protesters there protested not only prolonged detentions but also the denial of basic check-ups, echoing broader patterns of abuse.

 Earlier this year, political prisoner Maryam Jalal Hosseini, a teacher jailed for "propaganda against the state," endured a year of ignored gastrointestinal bleeding and dental decay, surviving on inadequate syrups while her health eroded. And in July 2025, activist Massoumeh Sanobari was savagely beaten by officials after leading anti-regime chants during an Ashura observance, her subsequent injuries untreated amid eight months in solitary. Families, barred from meaningful visitation, have lodged dozens of complaints with the Prisons Organization, only to face stonewalling from director Kolivand and his deputies.

These failures aren't accidental. Iran's judiciary, ostensibly independent, operates under the Supreme Leader's oversight, funneling resources to political detainees while skimping on the rank-and-file. A 2025 UN report lambasts the system for "systemic impunity," noting how torture-tainted confessions and sham trials entrench a cycle of abuse, with over 975 executions in 2024 alone—many for drug offenses lacking due process.

Shahraki's $30 debt pales against the billions siphoned by regime insiders, exposing Iran's two-tiered justice. Under Article 24 of the Penal Code, failure to repay even trivial sums can yield up to five years' confinement, a tool wielded against 50,000 debtors yearly, per Justice Ministry figures—yet rarely against the powerful. Contrast this with scandals like the 2023 Mobarakeh Steel embezzlement ($21 billion) or Sarmayeh Bank's $3 billion fraud, where perpetrators—often IRGC-linked—secure bail or acquittals via backroom deals.

Transparency International's 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Iran 147th out of 180 nations, scoring a dismal 23/100, with judicial graft cited as a primary drag. High-profile cases, such as former Judiciary Chief Sadegh Larijani's 63 illicit bank accounts yielding $66 million annually, evade scrutiny, their holders shielded by patronage networks. As one exiled analyst noted on X, "The poor rot for pennies while tycoons feast on billions—Khamenei's 'occasional' corruption is the regime's lifeblood."

Shahraki's family, speaking anonymously to NCRI affiliates, described a woman "crushed by a system that punishes survival." Her children, aged 4 and 6, now face an uncertain future without their mother's embrace. Social media erupted with tributes, from Berlin's MEK supporters decrying execution spikes to Bern's vigils for political prisoners.Hengaw Organization and HRANA swiftly amplified her story, demanding probes into the misdiagnosis.

As Iran's economy buckles—GDP contracting 4.2% in Q2 2025 per World Bank estimates—such tragedies fuel simmering dissent.UN experts urge "fundamental reforms" to dismantle impunity, including independent oversight of prisons and debt amnesty for the vulnerable. For now, Shahraki's death stands as a stark indictment: in a nation of 89 million, justice remains a luxury rationed by wealth and whim.