Reported by PMOI/MEK
Iran, August 8, 2018 – 112 years ago, in 1906, the first Iranian parliament, called Majlis, was created after years of sacrifice and struggle by the Iranian people. In all, 156 members were elected and wrote a constitution modeled primarily after the Belgian Constitution. Under the new constitution, the Shah was “under the rule of law, and the crown became a divine gift given to the Shah by the people.”
Mr. Baskerville American teacher martyr of the Iranian constitution movement
But freedom has never been given for free.
Shortly after the creation of the constitutionalist government, Mozaffar ad-Din Shah who had signed the new constitution under immense popular pressure died and his son, Shah Muhammad Ali, took to power and with the help of England and Russia overthrew the parliament and fell back to the monarchy regime.
Muzaffar al-Din Shah (r.1896-1907) in coronation regalia , ca. 1900
Ahmad Shah Qajar Reign 3 January 1907 – 16 July 1909
In the following month and years, various movements across Iran rose up to defend the constitution. Two figures from Iranian Azarbaijan became the most famous figures of the constitutionalist movement: Sattar Khan and Bagher Khan.
Satar Khan and Bagher Khan and their friends
The PMOI see themselves as the children of Sattar Khan and Bagher Khan moving along the very path to democracy and freedom that the Iranian people started so many decades ago.
This year, on the anniversary of the constitutional revolution, PMOI activists across Iran campaigned to value the principles the Iranian people started to fight for since so many years.
