This new, fairer Iran will probably be led by Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi. Many of you will already know of Maryam Rajavi and her almost five-decade fight to free Iran from the clutches of tyrants, but for those of you unaware, we’re going to provide a little breakdown here.
Maryam Rajavi was born on December 4, 1953, into a middle-class family in Tehran. Her family was very active in the fight for a free Iran. Her brother Mahmoud was a long-time member of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and was held as a political prisoner during the Shah’s regime, while her older sister Narges was killed by the Shah’s secret police (SAVAK) in 1975. Another sister, Massoumeh, was arrested by the clerical regime in 1982 when she was studying industrial engineering. She was subjected to brutal torture, despite being pregnant, and was eventually hanged.
Like many young political people, Maryam Rajavi sought out likeminded individuals at university – Sharif University of Technology- where she joined the MEK while studying Metallurgical Engineering. From 1973 to 1979, she served in the MEK’s student movement against the Shah’s regime, before moving onto work in the social department until 1981.
Following the 1979 anti-monarchical revolution, which MEK supporters were one of the main proponents for but was hijacked by the mullahs, Maryam Rajavi ran for a seat in Parliament during the 1980 parliamentary election. She received over 250,000 votes, but sadly the new fundamentalist regime rigged the system through widespread voter fraud to ensure that no opposition candidates entered Parliament.
From 1985 to 1989, Maryam Rajavi became the Joint-leader of the MEK before taking on the role of MEK Secretary-General. In 1993, she was elected as president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which is essentially the Iranian parliament-in-exile and comprises of several different resistance groups. She holds this position to this day and will until six months after the mullahs are evicted from Iran, which is just enough time to sure the transition of power to the Iranian people via elections that are actually free and fair.
As NCRI President, Maryam Rajavi has challenged the Iranian regime on all fronts and provided an extraordinary look at the peaceful and progressive future that Iran could see one day soon.
Her leadership has seen women, who make up over half of the MEK membership, rise to key positions of power in the Iranian Resistance; whether than be in political, diplomatic, social, ideological, or cultural spheres. This proves that gender equality is not just a talking point for Maryam Rajavi.
She has also worked hard to educate people on the real message of Islam, which rejects fundamentalism and misogyny for tolerance and democracy. We will speak more about this in our next piece.
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