People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran

People's Mojahedin Organization
سازمان مجاهدین خلق
AbbreviationPMOI, MEK, MKO
LeaderMaryam Rajavi[1]
Massoud Rajavi[a]
Secretary-GeneralZahra Merrikhi
FoundersMohammad Hanifnejad[3]
Saeid Mohsen
Ali-Asghar Badi'zadegan
Ahmad Rezaei
Founded5 September 1965; 59 years ago (1965-09-05)
Banned1981 (in Iran)
Split fromFreedom Movement of Iran
Headquarters
NewspaperMojahed[5]
Political wingNational Council of Resistance of Iran
(1981–present)
Military wingNational Liberation Army (1987–2003)
Membership5,000 to 10,000 (DoD 2011 est.)[b]
IdeologySee below
Political positionLeft-wing
ReligionShia Islam
Colours  Red
Party flag
Flag of the People's Mujahedin of Iran
Yellow version of the flag of the People's Mujahedin of Iran
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 group.[14] Its headquarters are currently in Albania. The group's ideology is rooted in "Islam with revolutionary Marxism",[15][16] and offered a revolutionary reinterpretation of Shia Islam influenced by the writings of Ali Shariati.[17][18][15] After the Iranian Revolution, the MEK opposed the new theocratic Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, seeking to replace it with its own government.[19][17][20] At one point the MEK was Iran's "largest and most active armed dissident group",[21] and it is still sometimes presented by Western political backers as a major Iranian opposition group.[22][23][24] It is known to be deeply unpopular today within Iran, largely due to its siding with Iraq in the Iran–Iraq War.[25]

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][26] 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.[27][28][29] The MEK boycotted the 1979 constitutional referendum, which led to Khomeini barring MEK leader Massoud Rajavi from the 1980 presidential election.[d][31][32] 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.[33][34][31] 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.[35][36][37][38][39]

Facing the subsequent repression of the MEK by the IRP, Rajavi fled to Paris.[40][41][42] During the exile, the underground network that remained in Iran continued to plan and carry out attacks[43][44] and it allegedly conducted the August 1981 bombing that killed Iran's president and prime minister, Rajai and Bahonar.[45][46][44] In 1983, the MEK began meeting with Iraqi officials.[47][48][49][50] In 1986, France expelled the MEK at the request of Iran,[51][52] 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,[53][54][55][56] and Operation Mersad.[57][58] The MEK is accused of participating in the suppression of the 1991 uprisings in Iraq,[59][60] while Ervand Abrahamian notes that one the reasons the MEK opposed the clerical regime was due to its violations of minority rights, particularly the Kurds.[61] Following Operation Mersad, Iranian officials ordered the mass execution of prisoners said to support the MEK.[62] As part of the group's ongoing underground and overseas activities, it was an early source for claims about the nuclear program of Iran.[63] In 2003, the MEK's military wing signed a ceasefire agreement with the U.S. and was disarmed at Camp Ashraf.[64]

Between 1997 and 2013, the MEK was on the lists of terrorist organizations of the US, Canada, EU, UK and Japan for various periods.[65] The MEK is designated as a terrorist organization by Iran and Iraq.[59] During its life in exile, MEK was initially financed by backers including Saddam Hussein,[66][67][68][69] and later a network of fake charities based in European countries.[70][71][72] Critics have described the group as "resembling a cult",[73][74][75] while its backers describe the group as proponents of "a free and democratic Iran" that could become the next government there.[76]

  1. ^ a b O'Hern 2012, p. 208.
  2. ^ Sloan, Stephen; Anderson, Sean K. (2009). Historical Dictionary of Terrorism. Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest (third ed.). Scarecrow Press. p. 454. ISBN 978-0-8108-6311-8.
  3. ^ a b Chehabi, Houchang E. (1990). Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran Under the Shah and Khomeini. I.B. Tauris. p. 211. ISBN 978-1-85043-198-5.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference durres-locals was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Zabih 1988, p. 250.
  6. ^ "Mujahedin-E Khalq Organization (MEK Or MKO)". encyclopedia.com.
  7. ^ Saikal, Amin. The Rise and Fall of the Shah. Princeton University Press. p. xxii.
  8. ^ Emery, Christian (2013). US Foreign Policy and the Iranian Revolution. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 60.
  9. ^ Sazegara, Mohsen; Stephan, Maria J. Civilian Jihad. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 188.
  10. ^ Hambly, Gavin R. G. The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 7. Cambridge University Press. p. 284.
  11. ^ "Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK)". Conflict in the Modern Middle East: An Encyclopedia of Civil War, Revolutions, and Regime Change. ABC-CLIO. p. 208.
  12. ^ Abedin, Mahan (2019). Iran Resurgent: The Rise and Rise of the Shia State. C. Hurst & Co. p. 60.
  13. ^ Vahabzadeh 2010, p. 100, 167–168.
  14. ^ "From businessman to 'spy': a Canadian-Iranian man's ordeal in Tehran's Evin Prison". Amnesty. 4 December 2013. Archived from the original on 24 August 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  15. ^ a b Katzman 2001, p. 99.
  16. ^ Abrahamian 1989, pp. 92.
  17. ^ a b Abrahamian 1989, pp. 1–2.
  18. ^ Milani, Mohsen (1 April 2013). The making of Iran's Islamic revolution : from monarchy to Islamic republic. Westview Press. p. 83.
  19. ^ Katzman 2001, p. 2.
  20. ^ Cohen 2009, p. 23.
  21. ^ Cimment 2011, pp. 276, 859. "The strength of the movement inside Iran is uncertain [...] MEK is the largest and most active Iranian dissident group; its membership includes several thousand well-armed and highly disciplined fighters."
  22. ^ Katzman 2001, p. 97.
  23. ^ Rozenberg, Joshua (23 October 2008). "Ban on Iran opposition should be lifted, says EU court". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022. Iran's main opposition group
  24. ^ Campbell, Matthew (22 August 2021). "The People's Mujahidin: the Iranian dissidents seeking regime change in Tehran". The Times. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022. the biggest and most resilient Iranian opposition group
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference popularity was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Newton, Michael (2014). "Bahonar, Mohammad-Javad (1933–1981)". Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-61069-286-1.
  27. ^ "The People's Mojahedin: exiled Iranian opposition". France24. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  28. ^ Svensson, Isak (1 April 2013). Ending Holy Wars: Religion and Conflict Resolution in Civil Wars. Univ. of Queensland Press. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-7022-4956-3. Archived from the original on 25 May 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  29. ^ Katzman 2001, p. 100.
  30. ^ Abrahamian 1989, p. 198. "The Mojahedin also refused to participate in the referendum held in December to ratify the Constitution drafted by the Assembly of Experts [...] Once the Constitution had been ratified, the Mojahedin tried to field Rajavi as their presidential candidate [...] Khomeini promptly responded by barring Rajavi from the election by declaring that those who had failed to endorse the Constitution could not be trusted to abide by that Constitution."
  31. ^ a b Katzman 2001, p. 101. "Khomeini refused to allow Masud Rajavi to run in January 1980 presidential elections because the PMOI had boycotted a referendum on the Islamic republican constitution."
  32. ^ Goulka et al. 2009, p. 2.
  33. ^ Abrahamian 1989, p. 206-207,219. "by the fateful day of 20 June, the Mojahedin - together with Bani-Sadr - were exhorting the masses to repeat their 'heroic revolution of 1978-9'...The success of 1978-9 had not been duplicated. Having failed to bring down the regime, Bani-Sadr and Rajavi fled to Paris where they tried to minimize their defeat by claiming that the true intention of 20 June had not been so much to overthrow the whole regime."
  34. ^ Merat, Arron (9 November 2018). "Terrorists, cultists – or champions of Iranian democracy? The wild wild story of the MEK". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 November 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2019. 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...
  35. ^
    • Sinkaya, Bayram (2015). The Revolutionary Guards in Iranian Politics: Elites and Shifting Relations. Routledge. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-138-85364-5. 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.
    • Fayazmanesh 2008, pp. 79–80. "In 1981, the MEK detonated bombs in the head office of the Islamic Republic Party and the Premier's office, killing some 70 high-ranking Iranian officials, including Chief Justice Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, President Mohammad-Ali Rajaei, and Premier Mohammad-Javad Bahonar"
    • Atkins, Stephen E. (2004). Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups. Greenwood. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-313-32485-7. 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.
    • Pedde, Nicola. "ROLE AND EVOLUTION OF THE MOJAHEDIN E-KA". ojs.uniroma1. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  36. ^ Ismael, Jacqueline S.; Perry, Glenn; Ismael, Tareq Y. Y. (5 October 2015). Government and Politics of the Contemporary Middle East: Continuity and change. Routledge. p. 181. ISBN 978-1-317-66283-9. Archived from the original on 25 May 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  37. ^ Newton, Michael (17 April 2014). Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-61069-286-1. Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  38. ^ Goulka et al. 2009, p. 57. "The most ambitious attack attributed to the MeK was the bombing of the IRP's Tehran headquarters on June 28, 1981. This attack killed more than 71 members of the Iranian leadership, including cleric Ayatollah Beheshti, who was both secretary-general of the IRP and chief justice of the IRI's judicial system."
  39. ^ Goulka et al. 2009, p. 58. "Khomeini's Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps brutally suppressed the MeK, arresting and executing thousands of members and supporters. The armed revolt was poorly planned and short-lived. On July 29, 1981, Rajavi, the MeK leadership, and Banisadr escaped to Paris"
  40. ^ Abrahamian 1989, p. 219. "The success of 1978-9 had not been duplicated. Having failed to bring down the regime, Bani-Sadr and Rajavi fled to Paris where they tried to minimize their defeat by claiming that the true intention of 20 June had not been so much to overthrow the whole regime"
  41. ^ Atkins, Stephen E. (2004). Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups. Greenwood. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-313-32485-7. 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.
  42. ^ Abrahamian 1989, p. 220-221,258. "By the autumn of 1981, the Mojahedin were carrying out daily attacks...The number of assassinations and armed attacks initiated by the Mojahedin fell from the peak of three per day in July 1981 to five per week in February 1982, and to five per month by December 1982."
  43. ^ a b Goulka et al. 2009, p. 85.
  44. ^ Newton, Michael (2014). Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-61069-286-1. Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 19 July 2019. 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)
  45. ^ Katzman 2001, p. 101.
  46. ^ Shay, Shaul (October 1994). The Axis of Evil: Iran, Hizballah, and the Palestinian Terror. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7658-0255-2. Archived from the original on 26 May 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2024. 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.
  47. ^ Piazza 1994: "At the beginning of January of 1983, Rajavi held a highly publicized meeting with then Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq Tarqi Aziz, which culminated in the signing of a peace communique on January 9 of that year. Rajavi, acting as the chairman of the NCR, co-outlined a peace plan with Aziz based on an agreement of mutual recognition of borders as defined by the 1975 Algiers Treaty."
  48. ^ "Iraqi Visits Iranian Leftist in Paris". The New York Times. 10 January 1983. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2024. 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"
  49. ^ Shay, Shaul (October 1994). The Axis of Evil: Iran, Hizballah, and the Palestinian Terror. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7658-0255-2. Archived from the original on 26 May 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2024. 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.
  50. ^ Piazza 1994, pp. 9–43.
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