Iran Focus
London, 17 Sep – On the 52nd anniversary of its foundation on September 6, 2017, the Iranian Resistance’s central force, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) elected a new Secretary General.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) is a robust movement, which its central council consists of thousands of women. In Iran, Albania, France, Germany, London and Sweden.
The annual congress of the PMOI/MEK was presided by former Secretary General Zohreh Akhyani who served six years in this position in the most complex conditions as the organization was being transferred from Ashraf to Liberty, Iraq, and from there to Albania.
Zahra Merrikhi, 58, was unanimously elected in the third phase of PMOI/MEK elections as the organization’s new 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/MEK‘s Central Council.
The new Secretary General expressed her appreciation for the efforts of her predecessor, Ms. Zohreh Akhyani, and Ms. Mojgan Parsaii, the President of the PMOI/MEK’s Central Council. She lauded their efforts and those of other PMOI /MEK officials over the past 14 years, during one of the most dangerous and tortuous periods of the organization’s history in camps Ashraf and Liberty.
Ms. Merrikhi’s younger brother, Ali Merrikhi, was murdered by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in 1988 in the struggle for Iran’s freedom.
Ms. Merrikhi spoke to members of the Mojahedin, calling the PMOI/MEK “an important academy for human relations, a society with the noblest of emotions, as well as political and social responsibility.”
The PMOI/MEK underground movement was exposed in 1971, and more than 90 percent of its cadres and members were arrested, and sentenced to imprisonment and execution at the time. Since then the movement continues to pay heavily to free the Iranian people from the repressive regime. The members and supporters of the PMOI/MEK are dedicated to their cause, their people, and their homeland.
Last year the PMOI/MEK relocated to Albania after they were successfully evacuated from Camp Liberty in Iraq, and they are now more organized and powerful than ever. Besides their strong international network, the PMOI/MEK has a huge presence inside Iran.
PMOI/MEK members have stated that the foremost responsibility and primary mission of their new Secretary General is to bring about the overthrow of the present Iranian regime. Her role in this movement entails “having the greatest responsibility (duties) in advancing the organization and its objectives and programs”.
Mrs. Rajavi the president elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran which PMOI/MEK is its strongest member, said in a recent speech, “This election will break the spell of repression and herald the overthrow of the mullahs’ religious fascism.”
It has been suggested that the social situation in Iran is becoming increasingly troublesome for the regime. The Iranian people are fed up with being subjected to repression, imprisonments, torture and daily executions. Meanwhile, the opposition movement is prepared for an attempt to force the regime to stop violating human rights, and accelerate its collapse.
