Iran-Mohammad Seyedi Kashani, oldest PMOI/MEK member, passes away in Albania

Mohammad Seyedi Kashani, a senior member of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), passed away on Wednesday in a hospital in Albania. He was a member of this organization for 53 years, joining the PMOI/MEK the day after its foundation. Kashani was in contact with PMOI/MEK founder Mohammad Hanif Nejad.
Born in Tehran in 1942, Kashani went on to receive his Master's Degree in physics from Tehran University. He was then working as a research and development expert in Iran’s national oil company.
For more than seven years, from 1971 to 1979, Kashani spent time behind bars after being arrested by the Shah’s notorious secret service, the SAVAK. During his trial in a military court, he courageously defended the PMOI/MEK positions and ideology and turned the scene into the prosecution of the Shah’s regime for its crimes against the oppressed nation of Iran. Kashani was initially sentenced to two executions and went on to see his ruling downgraded to life in jail. He was released with the last group of political prisoners on January 20, 1979, less than three weeks before the 1979 revolution.
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Senior PMOI/MEK member Marzieh Rezaei passes away

Ms. Marzieh Rezaei, a member of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) Central Council, passed away this morning, May 4, 2018, in Albania following a long struggle against cancer.
Born in 1968 into the renowned Rezaei family who have lost many members in the Iranian people’s plight for freedom, Marzieh became familiar with the PMOI/MEK and their devotion for their nation from an early age. After joining the organization she was seen actively accepting a variety of responsibilities.
During the Iraqi forces’ July 2009 attack on Camp Ashraf – former PMOI/MEK site in Iraq – Ms. Rezaei courageously stood shoulder to shoulder with her colleagues to defend their home and rights. Following the Iraqis’ ground assault Ms. Rezaei joined a large number of other PMOI/MEK members launching a hunger strike protesting the atrocity. Despite the deterioration of her health after a long hunger strike, Ms. Mraziah was always there as an inspiration to her friends and colleagues.
After a heinous crime by the mullahs' regime mercenaries in Camp Ashraf in Iraq on Sept. 1st, 2013, in which 52 PMOI/MEK members were brutally gunned down in cold blood, she, along with hundreds of other PMOI members and supporters from around the world went on hunger strike which lasted her 92 days.
And despite all the pains, she also set an example of high spirits in her struggle against struggle cancer.
Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the Iranian Resistance expressed her utmost condolences to all PMOI/MEK members and heroic Rezaei family, especially her mother.
The fighting spirit seen in the heroic Marzieh during her years of perseverance in Iraq, and her endurance in the face of cancer, eternally places her alongside the renowned Rezaie family martyrs, Mrs. Rajavi said.
PMOI/MEK Secretary General Ms. Zahra Merikhi hailed Ms. Rezaei, describing her as a genuine example of heroism, perseverance and fighting spirit against the religious fascism ruling Iran.
Related:
Glorious Epics–what happened in jails during 1981 to 1988 Massacre?

4th anniversary of massacre of PMOI members in Camp Ashraf

A Short History of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK)

Interviews with Women of Iranian Resistance


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The election of a new Secretary General heralds the certain overthrow of the mullahs’ religious dictatorship in Iran

How one woman is leading the opposition against the Iranian regime1
By F.Mahmoudi, Special to Al Arabiya English
While media outlets in Iran are speaking about “the end of the revolution, sense of despondency among revolutionaries and the disregard of Khomeini”, Khamenei has proven incapable of controlling the regime, which is riddled with internal dissensions and crises. In addition, the regime is so chauvinistic that it could not include a single woman in the new cabinet of Hassan Rouhani.
Meanwhile, Iran’s opposition-in-exile celebrated its 52nd anniversary on September 6, where its congress elected a woman as its new Secretary General.
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After Her Election as PMOI/MEK Secretary General, Zahra Merrikhi Pledges to Bring Freedom to Iran

Maryam Rajavi: This election will break the spell of repression and heralds the overthrow of the mullahs’ religious fascism
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, PMOI, (the Mujahedin-e Khalq, MEK) held its annual Congress simultaneously in Tirana and five other countries. On the PMOI’s 52nd anniversary, the Congress elected Ms. Zahra Merrikhi as its new Secretary General. Ms. Zohreh Akhyani, the Secretary General since 2011, chaired the Congress.
According to the PMOI’s bylaws, the Secretary General is elected to a renewable term of two years. The election is held in three phases. In the first phase, members of the PMOI Central Council, and in the second the organization’s officials and cadres in different departments, cast their votes in secret ballots. In the third phase, at the PMOI Congress, all members vote by raising their hands.
In the first phase, on August 20, 2017, Ms. Merrikhi was elected from among 12 candidates by a majority of the Central Council members. The four leading candidates were put on the ballot for the second phase, which was held on September 3, 2017. Ms. Merrikhi received a majority of the votes cast in ten different PMOI centers. In the final phase, during the PMOI Congress, Ms. Merrikhi was unanimously elected Secretary General.
Previously, Ms. Merrikhi was coordinator for the offices of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and Vice-President of the PMOI’s Central Council.
Born in 1959 in the city of Qa’emshahr in the northern Province of Mazandaran, Ms. Merrikhi became acquainted with the PMOI during the 1979 anti-Monarchic Revolution and joined the PMOI after the Shah’s overthrow. She was soon appointed head of the women’s section in Qa’emshahr, and later became a member of the editorial board of the PMOI publication in Mazandaran, called Talavang.
In 1981, she was transferred to Tehran and acted as liaison between the PMOI and its branches in the forests of northern Iran. In 1984, she moved to PMOI bases in the border region with Iraq, and a year later became a member of the Central Council.
Her younger brother, Ali Merrikhi, was murdered by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in 1988.
Ms. Merrikhi oversaw PMOI branches in Scandinavia and Germany for some time. In 1991, she became a member of the Executive Committee and was later appointed head of Radio Mojahed, Simay-e Moghavemat (the Iranian Resistance’s television network) and the publication Mojahed.
She became a member of the NCRI in 1992 and was appointed Chairwoman of the Public Affairs Committee.
Ms. Merrikhi had been the coordinator of the offices of Mrs. Rajavii since 2003 and the Vice-president of the PMOI’s Central Council since 2004.

Following her election as Secretary General, Mrs. Merrikhi was sworn in, placing her hand on the Holy Quran and paying her respects to the Iranian flag and PMOI emblem. She pledged to remain faithful to the enormous responsibilities with which she has been entrusted. Ms. Merrikhi vowed to devote all her abilities and those of the PMOI as a national treasure of the Iranian people, to establish freedom and democracy in Iran.
The new Secretary General expressed her appreciation for the efforts of her predecessor, Ms. Akhyani, and Ms. Mojgan Parsai, the President of the PMOI’s Central Council. She lauded their efforts and those of other PMOI officials over the past 14 years, during one of the most dangerous and tortuous periods of the Organizations history in camps Ashraf and Liberty.
“Today, the PMOI, with the help of the Iranian people, is prepared as never before to overthrow the clerical regime,” Ms. Merrikhi said, adding that the PMOI has now 18 co-Secretaries General (including seven former Secretaries General). Mr. Merrikhi also introduced Narges Azodanlou, 36, Rabi’eh Mofidi, 35, and Nasrin Massih, 39, as new deputies to the Secretary General.
In congratulating the election of Ms. Merrikhi as the new PMOI Secretary General, Mrs. Rajavi described it as a brilliant election, embodying the height of democracy, cohesion, and growth in the PMOI. It heralds the breaking of the spell of repression which will lead to the overthrow of the religious fascism ruling Iran, she added.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran
September 6, 2017