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Massoud Rajavi (Template:Lang-fa, born 18 August 1948) is the leader of the Iranian Resistance, founder of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and the Secretary-General of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI). After leaving Iran in 1981, he resided in France. In 1986, Massoud Rajavi and MEK personnel were expelled from France to Iraq because of an arrangement between France and the regime in Tehran in which France hoped to free 6 hostages in Lebanon.

Biography

Massoud Rajavi graduated from University of Tehran with a degree in political law. He joined the MEK when he was 20 and still a law student.

He was later arrested by SAVAK and sentenced to death. Due to efforts by his brother, Kazem Rajavi, and direct letter of a number of Swiss lawyers including professors at Geneva University to the Shah, his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. He was released from prison during the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

Upon his release, Rajavi assumed leadership of the Islamic MEK, reclaiming the name from the Marxists. Rajavi and the MEK actively opposed the Shah of Iran and participated in the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Following the removal of the Shah, the MEK pursued its objective of establishing democracy in Iran. The group clashed with Ayatollah Khomeini's government. By the time Iran’s first presidential election took place in January 1980, MEK had gathered significant support in Iran, including support from Jews and Kurds. Rajavi was one of the candidates for Iran's presidential elections; however, before the final result of the election was announced, Ayatollah Khomeini ordered Rajavi's name omitted from the list of candidates. When Rajavi was barred from running for office, many Kurds, who widely supported Rajavi, also boycotted the election. In a speech in June 1980 at Tehran’s Amjadieh Stadium, Rajavi criticized government leaders, especially Ayatollah Khomeini, about the suppression of liberties.

In 1981, when Ayatollah Khomeini dismissed President Bani Sadr and a new wave of arrests and executions started in the country, Rajavi and Bani Sadr fled to Paris from Tehran's airbase. In 1986 Rajavi moved to Iraq and set up a base on the Iranian border. Rajavi was welcomed in Baghdad by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Following the American invasion of Iraq, Massoud Rajavi disappeared. In his absence, Maryam Rajavi has assumed his responsibilities as leader of the MEK. In 2011 NCRI posted an article which described Rajavi as being "in hiding", though this has not been independently verified. On July 6, 2016, at a large gathering of MEK members in Paris, the former head of Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency, Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, referred to Massoud Rajavi as the "late Massoud Rajavi" twice in a speech.

Electoral history

Year	Election	Votes	%	Rank	Notes
1979	Assembly of Experts	297,707	11.78	12th	Lost
1980	President	–			Withdrew
	Parliament	531,943	24.9	38th	Went to run-off
	Parliament run-off	375,762			Lost

References

1. ^ Connie Bruck (2006). "Exiles: How Iran's expatriates are gaming the nuclear threat". The New Yorker. 82 (1–11). F-R Publishing Corporation: 54–55.
2. Stephen Sloan; Sean K. Anderson (2009). Historical Dictionary of Terrorism. Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest (3 ed.). Scarecrow Press. p. 454. ISBN 0810863111.
3. Dahl, Tera. "Thousands Rally in Paris for a Free and Democratic Iran". Breitbart.com. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
4. "Testimony of Amb. Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Jr. before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia "Camp Ashraf: Iraqi Obligations and State Department Accountability," December 7, 2011" (PDF). House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
5. See Abrahamian, supranote 291
6. SeeAbrahamian, supranote 363 at 146¬147, 183.
7. Hersh, Seymour M. "Our Men In Iran?". The New Yorker. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
8. "The 1979 Revolution". The U.S. Foundation for Liberty. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
9. SeeAbrahamian, supranote 363 at 198.
10. Traficant, Jr., James. "IRANIAN REGIME PROVEN TO BE MAJOR VIOLATOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS". The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO). Retrieved 29 July 2015.
11. SeeAbstract, NEW YORK TIMES, 26 Jan. 1980 (1980 WLNR 272101).
12. ^ Council on Foreign Relations, "Backgrounder: Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (Iranian Rebels)."
13. Smith, Craig S. (24 September 2005). "An implacable opponent to the mullahs of Iran". The New York Times.
14. ^ http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/08/26/117689.html
15. http://www.iranian.com/main/blog/jahanshah-javid/where-masoud-rajavi
16. http://awdnews.com/top-news/obama-s-favorite-terrorist-massoud-rajavi-died-from-complications-related-to-hiv-aids,-say-reports1468509960
17. Peter Chalk (2012). "Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK)". Encyclopedia of Terrorism. ABC-CLIO. p. 509. ISBN 9780313308956.
18. Matt Cresswell, Camp Ashraf protest moves to Paris, 24 June 2011, source unclear; article posted on NCRI website, 2 July 2011
19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay_QZpmJBJA
20. ^ Ervand Abrahamian (1989), Radical Islam: the Iranian Mojahedin, Society and culture in the modern Middle East, vol. 3, I.B.Tauris, p. 195, Table 6; pp. 203–205, Table 8, ISBN 9781850430773

External links

• Use dmy dates from November 2012
• Iranian activists
• Missing people
• 1948 births
• People's Mujahedin of Iran politicians
• People of the Iranian Revolution
• Iranian revolutionaries
• Exiles of the Iranian Revolution in France
• Iranian emigrants to France
• Iranian emigrants to Iraq