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Maryam Rajavi, Iranian political activist, born in 1953 in Tehran, Iran. Wife of Masoud Rajavi and currently President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a front organization for the the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MKO) terrorist group. MKO used to kill American citizens in Iran during the Shah's regime, they later were ardent supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini, and were the key to bringing Islamic regime to Iran. They also were the main group responsible for taking the American hostages in Tehran. Later on MKO had a fallout with Khomeini and the Mullahs and they moved to Iraq, and cooperated with Saddam Hussain's regime. Ironically, they are now being manipulated by certain factions in Washington as an instrument in battling the Islamic regime in Iran.

Maryam Rajavi's Website

Biography

Maryam Rajavi was born in 1953 to a middle class family in Tehran. She has a degree in metallurgy from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran.

Rajavi began her activities during the anti-shah movement in early 1970s, as one of the leaders of the student movement while studying at the University.

The Shah's regime is alleged to have executed one of her sisters, Narges, and the Khomeini regime, which was brought to power mostly thanks to MKO, is alleged to have killed another, Massoumeh, and the MKO claims she died under torture in 1982 while eight months pregnant. Massoumeh's husband, Massoud Izadkhah, was also executed.

After the 1979 Revolution, Rajavi became a leading figure in the Social Section of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq {MKO) group, and played an important role in recruiting university and high school students into the ranks of the movement. At the time, the MKO quickly emerged as the principal support movement to the islamic regime. In 1980, Rajavi was among candidates for the parliamentary elections in Tehran.

In 1982, Rajavi left Iran for France. In Paris, she quickly emerged as one of the leaders of the group because she was married to Masoud Rajavi, the leader of the organization. She was eventually elected as the MKO's Joint-Leader in 1985. Four years later, during a plenary session of the MKO's Congress in 1989, Rajavi was elected as the Organization's Secretary General.

President-elect

In August 1993, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a front name for the MKO, elected Maryam Rajavi as Iran's future president for the transitional period following the mullahs' overthrow.

Rajavi subsequently resigned from her other positions to focus on her new responsibility as the President-elect.

As a Muslim woman, Rajavi presented a formidable political, social, cultural and ideological challenge in her new position as the President-elect to the misogynist mullahs who invoked God to justify their actions -- completely forgetting the fact that it was herself and her organization that supported the Islamic regime in Iran to begin with, and there is little to no difference between the Mullahs and the MKO. In fact, at the beginning they were one. Until they had a fallout with Khomeini during a power struggle in Iran.

Women's rights

The MKO uses the fact that Rajavi is a female to make hypocritical claims that their entire group is about women's rights and rights of the oppressed and the like. But a simple look at their history reveals the fact that the MKO itself used to be the very force Ayatollah Khomeini used in the beginning to destroy his oppositions. The MKO has violence and lack of humanity written all over the place in its long record.

Charting the future

In a speech to MKO members in Dortmund on June 16, 1995, Rajavi presented a 16-point "Charter of Fundamental Freedoms" for the post-mullah Iran. In the speech, Rajavi said that the love of freedom was the driving force of the Resistance movement. Without it, she said, "we could not have stood firm against the ruling dictatorship. Our nation has paid the price of freedom with 100,000 martyrs." Mrs. Rajavi also presented the platform of the Resistance for the future of Iran, emphasizing its commitment to the freedom of speech, opinion, the press, parties and political associations, as well as free elections. She emphasized that elections would serve as the sole basis in determining the legitimacy of government.

Rajavi also rejected the Iranian mullahs' manipulation of Islam. "Let there be no doubt," she said, "that the peddlers of religion who rule Iran in the name of Islam, but shed blood, suppress the people and advocate export of fundamentalism and terrorism, are themselves the worst enemies of Islam and Muslims. The day will come when they will be forced to let go of the name of Islam."

In the past decade, Rajavi has been invited by parliamentarians in different European countries. She visited Great Britain, Norway and the European Parliament, where she addressed groups of parliament deputies and met many political dignitaries to discuss her views on Islam and the future of Iran.

Before marrying Masoud, she was married to a lower ranking member of the MKO. Her marriage to Massoud Rajavi was the subject of much controversy within the group, as it was seen by many as both calculated, and unethica/unislamic. The MKO claims to be a group strictly adhereing to Islam and Islamic laws.

Rajavi has a 22-year-old daughter named Ashraf.

• Iranian politicians