Maryam Rajavi | |
|---|---|
مریم رجوی | |
_(14625524773)_(cropped)_(2).jpg) Rajavi in 2014 | |
| President-elect of theNational Council of Resistance[2] | |
| Assumed office 22 October 1993[1] | |
| Preceded by | Abolhassan Banisadr[a] |
| Co–equal Leader of thePeople's Mojahedin Organization of Iran | |
| Assumed office 27 January 1985[4] Serving with Massoud Rajavi (until 2003)[b] | |
| Preceded by | Massoud Rajavi(as leader) |
| Secretary-General of thePeople's Mujahedin of Iran | |
| In office 8 October 1989 – 22 October 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Massoud Rajavi |
| Succeeded by | Fahimeh Arvani |
| Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the National Liberation Army | |
| In office 20 June 1987 – 22 October 1993 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Maryam Qajar-Azodanlu (1953-12-04)4 December 1953 (age 72) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 1[7] |
Maryam Rajavi (Persian:مریم رجوی,née Qajar-Azodanlu, Persian:مریم قجر عضدانلو; born 4 December 1953) is an Iranian dissident politician and the leader of thePeople's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), an organization advocating the overthrow of theIranian government, and president-elect of itsNational Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). She is married toMassoud Rajavi, who is the co-leader of MEK.[8][4]
Rajavi was born Maryam Qajar-Azodanlu on 4 December 1953 inTehran, to a middle-class family of civil servants descended from theQajar dynasty.[9][10] She attended theSharif University of Technology in Iran, earning aBachelor of Science degree inmetallurgy.[9]
Rajavi has stated that her political activism began when she was twenty-two, after her sister Narges was killed bySAVAK.[10] Her other sister, Massumeh, was also executed (while pregnant) in 1982 byRuhollah Khomeini’s regime.[11] Then she became a member of thePeople's Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK), and began her political career.[12]
Rajavi served as an organizer of the anti-Shah student movement in the 1970s. In 1979, she became an official of the social section of the PMOI/MEK, where she served until 1981. Rajavi was a parliamentary candidate in 1980.[9] In 1982, Rajavi was transferred toAuvers-sur-Oise,Île-de-France where the political headquarters of the Mojahedin was located.[9]
In 1985, Rajavi was made co-leader of the MEK,[6][13] and was married toMassoud Rajavi in Paris.[6][13] Rajavi's marriage became a symbol for women to oppose forced marriages after the 1985 ideological revolution.[14] This was also presented by the group as a "matter of revolutionary necessity", with the appointment as co-leader reflecting the group's "thinking on the role of women in the Muslim World", and the marriage being in service of the "ideological revolution".[6]
Between 1989 and 1993, Rajavi also served as the Secretary General[15][12] On 22 October 1993, theNCRI then elected Rajavi to be "Iran’s interim President" if the NCRI were to assume power in Iran.[12]
In October 2011, then Home Secretary,Theresa May banned Rajavi from coming to Britain in a trip where she was to "explain how women are mistreated in Iran". The high court then sued Theresa May, withLord Carlile of Berriew (the Government's former independent reviewer of counter-terrorism laws) saying that May's decision "could be viewed as appeasing the Mullahs".[16][17] In 2014, theSupreme Court of the United Kingdom dismissed an appeal from Lord Carlile of Berriew QC and others and upheld it to maintain the ban, which had originally been implemented in 1997. Members of the UK House of Lords argued that the Home Secretary was "violating Article 10 (freedom of expression) of theEuropean Convention of Human Rights (the Convention)", saying that "Home Secretary’s reasons were legally irrelevant, because they depended on the potential reaction of a foreign state which did not share the values embodied in the Convention."[18][19] Rajavi is not excluded from any other European country and engages regularly with parliamentarians in theEuropean Parliament.[20]
Maryam Rajavi publicly met with thePresident of the State of PalestineMahmoud Abbas on 30 July 2016 in Paris, France.[21]
| Year | Election (Constituency) | Votes | % | Rank | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Parliament(Tehran, Rey and Shemiranat) | 221,831 | 10.4 | 67th | Lost | [22] |
| Part ofa series on |
| Liberalism in Iran |
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In 1992, the EP Council supported Maryam Rajavi's advocacy for "the international community act specially in favor of women’s rights" following condemnation of human rights violations by the Iranian government.[23]
Rajavi presented her plan at theCouncil of Europe in 2006, which supports complete gender equality in political and social rights and, specifically, a commitment to equal participation of women in political leadership. Her 10-point plan for the future of Iran stipulates that any form of discrimination against women would be abolished and that women would enjoy the right to choose their clothing freely. It also includes the ending of cruel and degrading punishments.[24]
In April 2021, Maryam Rajavi endorsed resolution HR 118, which expresses "support for Iranian people's desire for a democratic republic" and "condemns 'violations of human rights and state-sponsored terrorism' by Tehran".[25]
In July 2021, Rajavi organized a rally inBerlin to protest the election ofEbrahim Raisi as President of Iran. Rajavi called Raisi the "henchman" ofthe massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988. She was joined in the protest by former U.S. Secretary of StateMike Pompeo, who expressed his support for Rajavi and theNational Council of Resistance of Iran.[26][27]
In a statement that condemned theISIS attacksagainst Iran's parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic's founder, Rajavi stated: "ISIS's conduct clearly benefits the Iranian regime's Supreme Leader Khamenei, who wholeheartedly welcomes it as an opportunity to overcome his regime's regional and international impasse and isolation. The founder and the number onestate sponsor of terror is thus trying to switch the place of murderer and the victim and portray the central banker of terrorism as a victim."[28]
A 10-point manifesto published by Rajavi sets out a programme to transform Iran. She states her commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to other similar international organizations. She calls for the abolition of the death penalty, the creation of a modern legal system and the independence of judges. Rajavi would end Tehran's funding ofHamas,Hezbollah and other militant groups and is committed to peaceful coexistence, relations with all countries and respect for theCharter of the United Nations.[29] The manifesto also contains the statement that "We recognize private property, private investment and the market economy."[30] In June 2020, a majority of members of the USA's House of Representatives backed a "bipartisan resolution" supporting Rajavi and the NCRI's "call for a secular, democratic Iran" while "condemning Iranianstate-sponsored terrorism." The resolution, backed by 221 lawmakers (includingLouie Gohmert andSheila Jackson Lee), gave support to Rajavi's 10-point plan for Iran's future (which include "a universal right to vote, market economy, and a non-nuclear Iran") while calling on the prevention of "malign activities of the Iranian regime’s diplomatic missions."[31][32]
Albania is where most of MEK members are based.[33] In 2024 Rajavi said in a statement thatEbrahim Raisi's death "represents a monumental and irreparable strategic blow to the mullahs' supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the entire regime, notorious for its executions and massacres".[34]
In a similar event on 6 September 2025, Maryam Rajavi joined a crowd of tens of thousands people, celebrating the 60th birthday of the People;s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, inAtomium plaza ofBrussels. Addressing the crowd she said, “I warn Khamenei and the mullahs beware: The waves of executions will not extinguish the volcano of the Iranian people’s revolt! Imprisonment and torture will no longer work. Stoking war and destruction or imposing economic suffering on the people of Iran will not save your decaying regime! Yes, uprising and overthrow are on the way!”[35]
Speaking to the crowd In the 6 September 2025 rally of Iranians in Brussels, Rajavi stated, “The answer to the Iranian crisis is the overthrow of the entire religious tyranny! The people of Iran are more prepared than ever! Iranian society is in a volatile state, and the only solution is the Third Option, neither appeasement nor war, but regime change by the people and their organized resistance!”[36]
On 7 February 2026, thousands rallied in Berlin to show support for Iranians' nationwide uprising. At the rally, Rajavi said that "The message of the Iranian people and their Resistance has been and remains this: no appeasement, no war or foreign intervention, regime change and sovereignty of the republic of the people, by the people and their organised resistance".[37][38]
In 2018, Vienna-based Iranian diplomatAsadollah Asadi was tried and sentenced to 20 years in prison in ahigh-profile case for masterminding a terrorism plot against a rally led by Maryam Rajavi. The rally was also attended by civilians and high-profile Westerners scheduled to speak (includingRudy Giuliani,Stephen Harper, andBill Richardson).[39][40]
On 17 June 2003, Rajavi was arrested byParis Police Prefecture alongside some 150 MEK members.[41][42] She and 23 other people were investigated over suspicion of links to terrorism.[43] The group refuted the charges, stating that the case was orchestrated to appease Iran.[44] All charges were later dropped.[45][43][46]
In July 2010, theIraqi High Tribunal issued anarrest warrant for 39 MEK members, including Rajavi, "due to evidence that confirms they committedcrimes against humanity" by "involvement with theformer Iraqi security forces in suppressing the1991 uprising against the former Iraqi regime and the killing of Iraqi citizens". The MEK have denied the charges, saying that they constitute a "politically motivated decision and it’s the last gift presented from the government ofNouri al-Maliki to the Iranian government".[47]
On 29 July 2023, Iran announced that they would try Rajavi and 103 other members of MEKin absentia.[48] The trial against both Rajavi and the 101 other MEK members commenced on 21 December 2023 at a Tehran court, and is ongoing as of April 2024.[49] According to U.S. federal legislative information, these involve "sham trials" of dissident Iranian Resistance veterans in order to have them extradited back to Iran or "justify terror plots against them".[50]
This transition was epitomized by Rajavi's involvement, in 1985, with Maryam Azodanlu. Maryam was already married, to Mehdi Abrishamchi, one of Rajavi's close associates. Rajavi overcame that fact by making the romance a matter of revolutionary necessity. First, he said that he was making Maryam his co-leader-and that it would transform thinking about the role of women throughout the Muslim world. Then, about a month later, it was announced that Maryam was divorced from Abrishamchi and that the two co-leaders would marry, in order to further the "ideological revolution."
The EP's condemnations of Iran continued also in 1992 and focused mainly upon the violations of human rights, the executions, the persecutions of ethnic and religious minorities, the oppression of women and the persecution of government opponents inside and outside Iran, as well as the attempts to assassinate MKO and NCRI leaders ... During that year the EP put much emphasis on women's oppression in Iran. The EP supported Maryam Rajavi's messages that demanded the international community act specially in favor of women's rights
This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under theOpen Government Licence v3.0Archived 28 June 2017 at theWayback Machine. © Crown copyright. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under theOpen Government Licence v3.0Archived 28 June 2017 at theWayback Machine. © Crown copyright.Rajavi's wife Maryam, leader of the French-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the PMOI's political wing, was also included in the warrant, Abdul Sahib added.
Media related toMaryam Rajavi at Wikimedia Commons
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byas Leader of People's Mujahedin of Iran | Co-leader ofPeople's Mujahedin of Iran 1985–present Served alongside:Massoud Rajavi | Incumbent |
| Vacant Title last held by Abolhassan Banisadras President of Iran in pretence | President-elect of theNational Council of Resistance of Iran 1993–present | |
| Preceded by | Secretary-General ofPeople's Mujahedin of Iran 1989–1993 | Succeeded by Fahimeh Arvani |
| New title | Deputy Commander-in-Chief of thePeople's Mujahedin of Iran military wing 1987–1993 | Vacant |
