The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran or Mojahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) is a political group dedicated to the realisation of a free and democratic Iran, but how did it start?
On September 6, 1965, the MEK was founded by three engineers Mohammad Hanifnejad, Said Mohsen, and Ali-Ashgar Badizadgan.
They had previously been involved with the Freedom/Liberation Movement, created by Medhi Bazargan in May 1961, which advocated for the democratic principles that were laid out in the Iranian constitution following the 1905 resolution. The group had been allowed to peacefully assemble and advocate for political freedom and the separation of powers for two years.
However, in 1963, Ruhollah Khomeini gave a public speech criticising the monarchy and was arrested. In response, large free speech and anti-monarchy protests broke out across Iran, which the Freedom Party supported.
These protests were violently put down by the Shah’s police, with thousands of people dying in what would become known as the June Uprising. Following the protests, the Shah outlawed pro-democracy groups, like the Freedom Party, and imprisoned their leaders. Bazargan was sentenced to ten years in prison.
The MEK founders knew that the fight for democracy in Iran was not over, but also knew that they had to find a different path as repeating the actions of the Freedom Movement was sure to fail.
