People's Mojahedin Organization سازمان مجاهدین خلق | |
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Abbreviation | PMOI, MEK, MKO |
Leader | Maryam Rajavi[1] Massoud Rajavi[a] |
Secretary-General | Zahra Merrikhi |
Founders | Mohammad Hanifnejad[3] Saeid Mohsen Ali-Asghar Badi'zadegan Ahmad Rezaei |
Founded | 5 September 1965 |
Banned | 1981 (in Iran) |
Split from | Freedom Movement of Iran |
Headquarters |
|
Newspaper | Mojahed[5] |
Political wing | National Council of Resistance of Iran (1981–present) |
Military wing | National Liberation Army (1987–2003) |
Membership | 5,000 to 10,000 (DoD 2011 est.)[b] |
Ideology | See below |
Political position | Left-wing politics |
Religion | Shia Islam |
Colours | Red |
Party flag | |
Website | |
www.mojahedin.org | |
The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) or Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) (Persian: سازمان مجاهدین خلق ایران, romanized: Sâzmân-ye Mojâhedin-ye Khalğ-ye Irân),[c] is an Iranian dissident organization that was previously armed but has now transitioned primarily into a political advocacy group. Its headquarters are currently in Albania. The group's ideology is rooted in "Islam with revolutionary Marxism",[14] but after the Iranian Revolution became about overthrowing the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and installing its own government.[15][16][17] At one point the MEK was Iran's "largest and most active armed dissident group",[18] and it is still sometimes presented by Western political backers as a major Iranian opposition group,[19][20][21] but it is also deeply unpopular today within Iran, largely due to its siding with Iraq in the Iran–Iraq War.[22]
The MEK was founded on 5 September 1965 by leftist Iranian students affiliated with the Freedom Movement of Iran to oppose the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.[3][23] The organization contributed to overthrowing the Shah during the 1979 Iranian Revolution. It subsequently pursued the establishment of a democracy in Iran, particularly gaining support from Iran's middle class intelligentsia.[24][25][26] The MEK boycotted the 1979 constitutional referendum, which led to Khomeini barring MEK leader Massoud Rajavi from the 1980 presidential election.[d][28][29] On 20 June 1981, the MEK organized a demonstration against Khomeini with the aim of overthrowing the regime. Some 50 demonstrators were killed in the protests.[30][31][28] On 28 June, the MEK was implicated in the blowing up of the headquarters of the Islamic Republican Party (IRP) in the Hafte Tir bombing, killing 74 officials and party members.[32][33][34][35][36]
Facing the subsequent repression of the MEK by the IRP, Rajavi fled to Paris.[37][38][39] During the exile, the underground network that remained in Iran continued to plan and carry out attacks[40][41] and it allegedly conducted the August 1981 bombing that killed Iran's president and prime minister, Rajai and Bahonar.[42][43][41] In 1983, the MEK began meeting with Iraqi officials.[44][45][46][47] In 1986, France expelled the MEK at the request of Iran,[48][49] forcing it to relocate to Camp Ashraf in Iraq. During the Iran-Iraq War, the MEK then sided with Iraq, taking part in Operation Forty Stars,[50][51][52][53] Operation Mersad,[54][55] and the suppression of the 1991 uprisings in Iraq.[56][57][58] Following Operation Mersad, Iranian officials ordered the mass execution of prisoners said to support the MEK.[59] As part of the group's ongoing underground and overseas activities, it was an early source for claims about the nuclear program of Iran.[60] In 2003, the MEK's military wing signed a ceasefire agreement with the U.S. and was disarmed at Camp Ashraf.[61]
Between 1997 and 2013, the MEK was on the lists of terrorist organizations of the US, Canada, EU, UK and Japan for various periods.[62] The MEK is designated as a terrorist organization by Iran and Iraq.[57] In 2008, the United Nations Committee against Torture labeled the group as involved in terrorist activities.[63] During its life in exile, MEK was initially financed by backers including Saddam Hussein,[64][65][66][67] and later a network of fake charities based in European countries.[68][69][70] Critics have described the group as "resembling a cult",[71][72][73] while its backers describe the group as proponents of "a free and democratic Iran" that could become the next government there.[74]
durres-locals
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Iran's main opposition group
the biggest and most resilient Iranian opposition group
popularity
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).On 20 June 1981, the MEK organised a mass protest of half a million people in Tehran, with the aim of triggering a second revolution… 50 demonstrators were killed, with 200 wounded. Banisadr was removed from office...
The most drastic show of terror instigated by the MKO was the blast of a bomb placed in the IRP headquarter on 28 June 1980 that killed more than seventy prominent members of the IRP, including Ayatollah Beheshti, founder of the IRP and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; four cabinet ministers; and twenty-seven members of the Majles.
the MEK leaders found that they had no role in the new regime…In response, supporters launched a terror campaign against Khomeini's regime. On June 28, 1981, two bombs killed 74 members of the Khomeini Islamic Republic Party (IRP) at a party conference in Tehran.
These attacks led to a brutal crackdown on all dissidents. Throughout 1981 a mini - civil war existed between the Khomeini regime and the MEK . By the end of 1982, most MEK operatives in Iran had been eradicated . By the time, most MEK leaders left Iran for refugee in France.
On August 30, 1981, a bomb exploded in the Tehran office of Iranian prime minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar. The blast killed Bahonar, as well as President Mohammad-Ali Rajai...Survivors described the explosion occurring when one victim opened a briefcase, brought into the office by Massoud Kashmiri, a state security official. Subsequent investigation revealed that Kashmiri was an agent of the leftist People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK)
The organizations' ties with Iraq (mainly Rajavi's meeting with Tariq Aziz in January 1983) were exploited to demonstrate the organizations betrayal due to its willingness to join forces with Iran's enemies on the outside.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq and the exiled leader of an Iranian leftist group met for four hours today and said afterward that the war between their countries should brought to an end. The conversations between Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz of Iraq and Massoud Rajavi, leader of the People's Mojahedin, an organization that includes a guerrilla wing active in Iran, were described by Mr. Rajavi as the first of their kind. He said the exchange of views had been "an important political turning point on the regional level and for the world in relation to the Iran-Iraq War"
Despite the mortal blow inflicted on the organization, the Iranian regime continued to regard the Mujahidin as a real threat, and therefore continued to persecute its followers and damage their public image. The organizations' ties with Iraq (mainly Rajavi's meeting with Tariq Aziz in January 1983) were exploited to demonstrate the organizations betrayal due to its willingness to join forces with Iran's enemies on the outside.
...by then sheltered in camps in Iraq, fought against Iran alongside the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein...
disarmament
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).The MEK has been involved in terrorist activities and is therefore a less legitimate replacement for the current regime.
auto
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).auto11
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).But critics question that commitment given the cult of personality built around MEK's leader, Maryam Rjavi.
harb2019
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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