She said: “I was deeply saddened by the untimely death of Iran’s popular artist, my dear Marjan… The long painful years of incarceration and torture alongside resistant women of the [Resistance], led Marjan’s freedom-loving soul and restless conscience to a new path to freedom of her people and her country.”

Rajavi explained that Marjan had joined the Iranian Resistance during her years in exile and for two decades served as the voice of Iran’s oppressed women, fighting the status quo and making a commitment to freedom.

She said: “I have lost a very dear sister, but I am confident that her sisters in the [Resistance], particularly those who were her cellmates, and the young rebellious women of Iran who will rise up for freedom, will fill her empty place. I extend my sincere condolences to her daughter, Poupak, to Mr. Jourak and their honorable family, to her artist colleagues, to all freedom-loving artists and the art community in Iran, and to the big family of the Iranian Resistance.”

Rajavi then promised that Marjan’s songs of freedom would stay with the Iranian people, inspiring them to fight on and that Iran would soon be free.

Marjan, 71, died on June 5 due to heart failure after a surgical operation.

In her teens, she became a radio announcer, before moving onto working in film and then as a singer. However, following the 1979 Revolution, she and other female artists were banned from singing by the regime.

She was arrested and jailed in 1982 for supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), with the regime confiscating her properties. Marjan never stopped struggling for freedom in Iran and supporting the Iranian Resistance.

Marjan said: “The (clerical) regime was at war with artists and particularly with women. It did not cherish music and had declared it unlawful… The art community was annihilated altogether. All the movies were destroyed… So, I decided to fight because it was my right to live free in my own country. Those days, the best-organized group was the People’s Mojahedin Organization. After I was arrested, I was directly taken to solitary confinement. This is the worst place for detention and torture. Later on, I asked why the took me to a solitary cell. And they told me, ‘because your charge was serious. You were a famous person and you joined this group…’.”